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McKinney ISD perfect in new school rating system
From Staff Reports
The McKinney Independent School District was one of only 43 school district's or charter schools in the state to receive a perfect rating in a new report from Texas Comptroller Susan Combs grading districts on the results they get in student performance for money spent.
“We are still reviewing the methodology, but essentially, the rating system combines academic performance with spending to create an overall rating,” said Steve Fortenberry, Chief Financial Officer for MISD. “The rating measures both performance and efficiency. To be named one of only 43 district's in the State of Texas to receive the five-star rating is an honor.
“This award speaks to the effort and work that our teachers and other employees put in each and every day to make certain students achieve, while also assuring our taxpayers that we are making wise and efficient use of their money.”
The newly released report on the 1,235 school districts and charter schools measured, which will be updated annually and is entitled Connecting the Dots: School Spending and Student Progress, is the result.
“We all want students to excel academically, and it takes a certain amount of spending to realize that goal, but what is the right amount,” Combs asked. “We need to fully understand the relationship between student progress and spending.”
The hope is that the data can be used to help trim school budgets without sacrificing educational quality as the state grapples with a budget shortfall projected to be as high as $25 billion.
Under the Financial Allocation Study for Texas (FAST) methodology used, each school district and campus, including charter schools, is assigned the following:
• A rating of student progress in reading and math, measured using a value-added model with controls for the varying characteristics of students, campuses and districts.
• A spending rating, from “Very Low” to “Very High,” that rates the district’s spending compared to up to 40 peer districts that operate in similar cost environments, are of similar size and serve similar students
• A FAST rating, from one to five stars, that integrates academic progress and spending to identify districts that produce strong academic growth at a lower cost than their peers. School districts that earn five stars have a “Very High” student progress rating and a “Very Low” spending rating. Alternately, one-star districts have very low student progress and very high spending compared to their fiscal peers.
“What we created is a new kind of report that uses a unique rating system to balance student progress against school spending in an unbiased fashion,” Combs said. “The FAST system includes controls for the diverse range of students and the varying educational costs in Texas school districts — resulting in realistic and useful comparisons.”
Combs added that the ratings do not judge the relative value of spending versus academic progress, as different schools have different priorities and constraints.
Connecting the Dots includes a compilation of practices for improving school operations that were created, in part, by studying five-star school districts and charter schools and contacting other districts showing low spending or strong academic performance.
The following are included in the recommendations:
• Share school facilities and services with community colleges and other local government entities to generate cost savings for all.
• Encourage school districts to use purchasing cooperatives and compare prices for goods and services with prices available through the state procurement system.
• Increase the educational opportunities available to students by reducing barriers to online coursework; and replace traditional textbooks with e-textbooks costing up to 40 percent less.
• Standardize reporting of campus financial data to help identify low- and high-cost programs.
• Relax the limit of 22 students in K-4 classes to permit an average of 22 students per class.
The study is published in its entirety online at www.FASTexas.org. The website includes complete details of school districts’ ratings, all of Combs’ recommended education policy changes and tools users can use to to compare school districts and create customized reports on school spending and academic achievement.
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