Hays CISD Board Advocates For Education & Safety During COVID-19

Corridor Staff

On Thursday, July 16, the Hays Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously to send a letter to Governor Greg Abbott, Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath, Senator Donna Campbell and Representative Erin Zwiener.

The letter expressed appreciation for TEA’s recent decision to grant school districts funding for virtual learning while COVID-19 continues to threaten communities around the state including Hays County.

It also details a list of items that the school district is advocating for in regards to education including:

• Giving local school districts the flexibility to make decisions on providing in-person instruction or online learning based on local data and community values and funding for resources that will keep students and employees safe.
• Waiving ST AAR and A-F rating for 2020-2021 school year. It is absurd that, in the midst of figuring out how to reopen and being terrified of losing a student or staff member, that the State is mandating ST AAR testing and labeling schools with letter grades.
• Amend acceptable uses and qualification for receipt of CARES Act funding for the reimbursement of expenditures on remediation or preventative measures necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19 rather than using it to back-fill gaps in the State budget. For example, Hays CISD was earmarked to receive 1.3 million dollars that was never disbursed and is still needed to invest in more safety equipment, PPE, technology, connectivity and learning.
• Additional funding to supplement costs incurred by districts to provide safe and effective learning.
• A commitment to allocate current or future federal money specified for schools as a supplement to existing funding commitments by the state.

“We cannot stress enough that any federal fund allocated for the health and safety of students under the CARES Act should properly be made available at the local level, especially in areas with a disproportionate amount of COVID-19 cases relative to the population,” the letter notes.

The document is signed by all seven board members and superintendent Dr. Eric Wright.  

The full letter approved by the board to be mailed to Gov. Abbott, Commissioner Morath, Senator Campbell and Rep. Zwiener can be read below.