FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE         Contact: Jennifer Harris

FEB. 15, 2023 [email protected] | 512-773-7168

Fastest Growth School Districts Call on Texas Legislature to Stand Up for Public Schools

AUSTIN, TEXAS-The following statement on the Texas Legislative Session and fast-growing school districts’ legislative priorities should be attributed to Dr. Greg Smith, Executive Director, Fast Growth School Coalition:

Each January in an odd-numbered year, the Texas Legislature plays the role of Rod Tidwell and Comptroller Glen Hegar could be our Jerry Maguire. “Show us the money” takes the form of the much anticipated Biennial Revenue Estimate (BRE), the comptroller’s best estimate for how much money state budget writers have as they write the Appropriations Bill to fund Texas government - including our public schools - for the next two years. 

On Jan. 9, just prior to the Legislature gaveling in, Comptroller Hegar announced the state would have $188.23 billion of revenue available for general purpose spending. That’s about a 26% increase from the previous biennium (2022-2023), and it provides a historic opportunity for once in a generation investments in education, infrastructure, workforce, and tax relief. 

Let’s break that $188.23 billion in revenue down further to drill down into what monies state lawmakers have to fund key programs, including our fast growth school priorities:

• $7.34 billion will be transferred to the State Highway Fund 

Recently, I attended a ceremony in my school district—Alief Independent School District in Houston, Texas—where approximately 60 high school students of different ethnicities, cultures, and nationalities were recognized and inducted into the 2022 National Technical Honor Society (NTHS). The NTHS honors high school students across the United States who demonstrate competencies in a specific curriculum or program of study that aligns with the needs and expectations of the local workforce. What made the induction ceremony even more special was that the students take a significant number of courses in the workforce field that best matches their desires and skills.

Read the Full Article 

All article credits go to American Compass

FGSC Corporate Partner Profile: BOK Financial Securities, Inc. 

Fast Growth School Coalition’s corporate partners are valued partners in our work. Their support of fast growth schools across our state and their support of public education is invaluable. We’re shining a light on the companies and organizations that have stepped up to support the coalition as platinum corporate partners, including BOK Financial Securities, Inc. (BOKFS):

BOK Financial Securities, Inc. (“BOKFS”) is the wholly owned, broker-dealer subsidiary of BOK Financial Corporation, a publicly traded, regional financial services corporation. As a full-service broker-dealer, BOKFS provides investment banking (bond underwriting and financial advisory services) and other capital market services for municipal entities throughout Texas and other strategic states within our regional footprint, with a special emphasis on Texas public school districts. 

In addition to our work as a financial advisor or bond underwriter, many Texas public school districts know BOK Financial Securities as the provider of the State funding template. Better known as “Omar’s Template,” this tool is used by virtually every district to calculate their State funding and special program allotments as well as assist with setting a district’s annual tax rate. We do this as a service for all school districts at no cost.

Given burgeoning student populations, fast-growth school districts find themselves being much more active in the bond markets to meet their need for additional facilities. Moreover, these school districts tend to be in greatest need of bond and financial assistance, with each district facing its own unique set of circumstances. We provide meaningful assistance, advice and guidance to these districts, earning the right to be considered a trusted financial partner.

WhataShield: FGSC Corporate Partner Profile

As part of our Fast Growth School Coalition platinum corporate partner profile series, Dr. Greg Smith invited Steve English, Founder of WhataShield, to talk about his company’s work with public schools and the company’s support of Fast Growth School Coalition.

Dr. Greg Smith, FGSC: Steve, as one of our newer corporate partners, why don’t you tell us a little about WhataShield?

Steve English, WhataShield: WhataShield understands the challenges facing school districts today, and we are passionate about providing solutions to exceed your expectations, meet your needs, and ensure long term protection of what you value the most.

WhataShield provides school districts with a simple program to protect students and teachers, your facilities, and your overall facility assets. Increasing operational efficiency at every turn saves the school district greatly. With a proactive approach to long term protection (one application annually), WhataShield Titania is the next wave of care versus the short term disinfecting methods that have been deployed in recent years. WhataShield Titania is an all-in-one product that protects the air and surfaces with one application annually.

Local Senate Government Committee Hearing
April 20, 2022

The Senate Committee on Local Government met on April 20 to hear invited and public testimony on interim charges related to bond elections and ballot language. The hearing notice can be found here.

This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight of the discussions on the various topics taken up. It is not a verbatim transcript of the discussions but is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer and the desire to get details out as quickly as possible with few errors or omissions.

Opening Comments

• Chair Paul Bettencourt - Are taking some public testimony later in the day, first have the ballot language interim charge

Ballot Language: Study the development of the language used for constitutional amendment and local ballot propositions. Recommend changes to make ballot propositions more easily understood by voters.

Fast Growth School Coalition continues to shine a light on our platinum corporate partners with our ongoing profile series. For this edition, we’re learning more about the College Board and its relationship with fast growth schools.

FGSC’s Dr. Greg Smith sat down with Jill Schott, Senior Director of State and District Partnership at the College Board: 

Dr. Smith: What does your company do and how important is it to your business to connect with fast-growth school districts?

Jill Schott, College Board: College Board’s mission is to connect students to success and opportunity. Our K-12 programs include the SAT Suite of Assessments and Advanced Placement. It’s important for us to connect with fast-growth school districts 

Dr. Greg Smith, Executive Director, Fast Growth School Coalition: As part of our Fast Growth School Coalition platinum corporate partner profile series, Dr. Greg Smith asked the team at Huckabee, one of our founding FGSC corporate partners, to share an update on their work in Texas and with fast growth districts. 

Josh Brown, AIA, President, Huckabee shared some background on the work they do all across our state. Here he is in his own words: 

Huckabee has exclusively served Texas public school districts for 54 years. We know Texas school construction, we understand the challenges and opportunities faced by public education, and most importantly, our team is passionate about ensuring the success of all students through our work with our school district partners.

Huckabee is an architectural / engineering firm. We have five offices in Texas plus the only educational research center in the state, Learning Experience Labs, at Baylor University. We offer services that focus on education and create a holistic approach to planning, design, construction, and more. These include: architectural and engineering services, structural engineering, facility assessment, long-range and master planning, community engagement, branding, interior design, furniture coordination, safety and security planning, environmental graphics and wayfinding, cost estimating, jurisdictional review, and construction administration.

As part of our platinum corporate partner profile series, Fast Growth School Coalition’s Dr. Greg Smith recently sat down with Ryan O’Hara, Head of Texas Public Finance with Huntington Capital Markets to talk about Huntington’s work in Texas, its relationship with fast growth districts and their support of our FGSC coalition. 

Texas K-12 financings are a Huntington Capital Markets specialty. Since 2009, HCM has served as underwriter on approximately 220 Texas school district transactions, totaling $10.3 billion in par amount. Our Texas bond underwriting/commitment desk and dedicated professionals, combined with our overall public finance experience and exceptional ability to underwrite and distribute Texas K-12 municipal bonds, makes HCM uniquely qualified to serve as an underwriter for FGSC districts’ bonds.

Dr. Smith: How important is it to your business to connect with fast-growth school districts and what sets HCM apart in your industry?

O’Hara: What distinguishes HCM from our competitors is our in-depth coverage of second- third- and fourth-tier institutional investors throughout the nation, providing access to underserved investors, potentially expanding a district’s investor base and driving down interest cost. This focus incorporating Tier II, III and IV investors distinguishes HCM’s distribution capabilities when compared to our regional and “peer” group competitors and provides our clients access to the broadest range of investors –facilitating our efforts to optimize pricing results, which is a vital part of FGSC districts’ tax rate management efforts.

This month, as part of our Fast Growth School Coalition platinum corporate partner profile series, we’re turning our attention to the work and support of Forecast5 Analytics. 

Forecast5 Analytics, a Frontline Education Company, empowers education leaders to harness the power of their data for more effective decision-making. More than 2,100 public sector clients across the country are using Forecast5 tools to make more strategic, effective decisions related to financial planning and budget management; student performance, learning gap mitigation, and equity; resource placement and boundary evaluation; and other critical considerations—and enabling them to communicate more transparently with their stakeholders.

FGSC’s Dr. Greg Smith asked Jeff Carew, Director of Business Development for Forecast5 Analytics, what he sees as some of the biggest challenges and opportunities facing fast growth districts, as well as the work his organization undertakes in fast growth districts across our state.

Dr. Smith: How important is it for Forecast5 Analytics to stay connected with fast-growth school districts?

Fast Growth School Coalition’s Dr. Greg Smith wants to shine a light on the work and support of our coalition’s platinum corporate partners. He recently sat down with VLK Architects to discuss VLK’s long-running partnership with FGSC and what VLK considers challenges and opportunities facing fast growth districts.

VLK Architects is a full-service architecture, planning, and interior design firm dedicated to public education in Texas. Passionately serving the best interests of school districts and their students, we are proud of our 37-year history of delivering thousands of successful projects to clients around the state.

Here are portions of his conversation with Sloan Harris, CEO and Partner of VLK Architects:

Dr. Smith: What does your company do and how important is it to your business to connect with fast-growth school districts?

Harris: More than ever, Texas’s vigorous growth is driving both prosperity and challenging demands in our communities.

VLK is in lockstep with the priorities of fast-growth districts and with key data experts who assist community leaders to make the best decisions for the future. VLK’s expertise fuses innovative school design strategies with demographic projections, public involvement, operational capacities, and timelines for building. We’ve united an array of experts to craft processes that align curriculum and instruction, long-range facility and bond planning, and participant-based design to deliver tailored solutions that meet the unique needs of every district client. Across the state of Texas, we live where we work, and we are driven to creating the safest and most engaging learning environments that every young learner deserves.

Dr. Smith: Why do you support the Fast Growth School Coalition?

Harris: VLK Architects proudly supports FGSC’s mission to advocate for the advancement of Texas’s fastest growing school districts. We celebrate FGSC’s role in providing vital resources that sustain a compelling and unified voice for districts striving to meet community demand. FGSC’s work builds unity between fast-growth districts and creates opportunities to share knowledge and resources, and to co-create solutions that benefit every school district. VLK Architects endeavors to serve as a critical resource to fast-growth districts committed to delivering an excellent education to every student despite the challenges of significant growth and limited assets.

Dr. Smith: What do you see as the biggest challenges and greatest opportunities facing public education and fast growth schools today? What are some of the content, events, or products and services that may help them navigate Covid, their next bond election, or other aspects of managing the tremendous growth these districts see year in and out?

Harris: In public education, the challenges can be especially difficult for fast-growing districts in Texas. Perennial funding limitations from the state legislature is a profound issue, as is recent legislation affecting ballot language requirements for bond elections.

Encroaching charter schools are a qualified threat to the enrollment and state funding for an increasing number of districts. Other strenuous challenges stem from growing contentions between school boards and the communities they serve.

“Cleveland ISD Needed Money. The State Sent Charter Schools Instead.”

The state’s fastest growing school districts are located in areas of rapid economic growth, business expansion, and significant population increases. Fast growing school districts must build new facilities to keep pace with their student growth, but over the years, the state’s portion of funding for new facilities has dwindled with some districts receiving little to zero in state dollars to keep pace with tremendous growth.

“During the last regular session of the Legislature back in the spring, [Superintendent Chris Trotter] asked lawmakers to grant him more flexibility in how he spends the school district’s money. He also lobbied the governor’s office to designate more state or federal funds to supplement local taxes. The Legislature allocated additional money for fast-growing districts, but not nearly as much as Trotter needed.”

Another challenge fast growth schools face is the result of rapid charter school growth, as Texas Monthly recently reported.

Texas Monthly’s Bekah McNeel digs into the challenges facing FGSC member district Cleveland ISD:

State of Our Schools Report: A Look at Facilities and Funding

As a member of the BASIC Coalition, Fast Growth School Coalition is pleased to share the latest State of Our Schools 2021 Report. BASIC is s non-partisan coalition of public school advocates and allies who support federal funding to help modernize and build K-12 public school facilities. 

Public PK-12 school facility funding systems are highly local and decentralized, with no established federal interest or national data source on public school infrastructures. That’s where the 21st Century School Fund, the International WELL Building Institute, and the National Council on School Facilities -- all affiliated with BASIC Coalition - come in. Through an in-depth review of public financial data and field experience, this new report found a current facilities funding gap of $85 billion a year. 

While school districts have been spending about an average of $110.1 billion every year on maintenance, operations, and capital construction, this is falling further and further short, leaving school districts unprepared to provide adequate and equitable school facilities. Proposed federal investment in rebuilding America’s schools has the potential to close the capital investment gap by about 22%.