Board of Trustees approves $103 million in additional compensation for staff

The Dallas ISD Board of Trustees approved a budget for the 2022-2023 school year that included allocating $51.2 million in salary increases for staff and $52 million for retention incentives. The budget includes a starting salary of $60,000 for new teachers, with returning teachers receiving an additional $3,500 that will be given to them in installments throughout the year. Salary changes begin in October.

250 Dallas ISD employees earn Mindfulness Coach Certification

Dallas ISD’s Social and Emotional Learning department has given approximately 250 Dallas ISD staff members the opportunity to earn their Mindfulness Coach Certification. With this certification, staff members are able to conduct training and small group interventions for other staff and students. Mindfulness practices can continue ongoing support of self-awareness, community building, and social emotional learning for Dallas ISD campuses.

Middle schoolers get an early look at career pathways in Summer Breeze 2022

Dallas ISD Career Institutes are offering sixth and seventh grade students the opportunity to train for various careers in state-of-the-art facilities as a part of the Summer Breeze 2022 program. Through this initiative, middle school students are able to get a glimpse of free district programs offered to high school students. Any rising ninth grader interested in joining Career Institute should schedule a meeting with their school counselor.

Texas students’ STAAR reading results rebound after COVID, math still lags

Preliminary STAAR results show, on average, reading results were comparable to pre-covid scores, while the math scores continue to fall behind. Across the state, nearly 52% of elementary and middle school students met grade level expectations for reading. For math, only 40% of elementary and middle school students met grade level expectations, nearly ten percentage points lower than scores pre-pandemic. The TEA commissioner, Mike Morath, believes that the spike in reading scores is a result of the Legislature’s mandated tutoring strategy and expects they will use similar strategies around math in this upcoming year.

Some propose Texas schools call slavery ‘involuntary relocation’

In the wake of Texas developing a new social studies curriuclum, a group of nine educators submitted the idea of referring to slavery as “involuntary relocation” to the State Board of Education. Standards may change after Texas passed a law to eliminate topics that can make students “feel discomfort”. The board sent the draft back to the educators for revisions that would thoroughly examine and accurately represent the language around historical events. 

Texas schools must check all exterior doors before school year starts, TEA announces

Following the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, the TEA issued new safety guidelines for Texas districts, including ensuring all exterior doors close and lock efficiently. The TEA has directed school officials to do a weekly inspection of the doors throughout the school year, districts to conduct summer safety audits and provide all campus staff with uniformed safety protocols. 

Parents Want Politics Out of the Classrooms

A new survey by Learning Heroes, an education research organization focused on elevating parental involvement, shows that 68% of parents and 70% of principals and teachers are concerned with having politicians who are not educators making decisions about what happens in the classroom. 64% of principals and teachers share the same sentiments about parents who are not involved in education making decisions about curriculum. In an effort to get more parents involved, the U.S Education Department created a national parent council to give parents the opportunity to team up with educators to support students as effectively as possible. 

Biden Administration Tightens Rules on Charter School Funding Program

In an effort to emphasize public engagement and stewarding federal funding in charter schools, the Biden Administration’s Charter School Program implemented new rules stating that incoming charter schools will have to: gather community input and prove that they are not managed by for-profit companies, complete an impact analysis to demonstrate the need for a new school in that area, ensure that the new school does not combat desegregation efforts in the community, and collaborate with traditional schools at their discretion.