The MISD Board of Trustees met for their regularly scheduled board meeting on Tuesday, October 17. You can watch the video and read the recap below.
During the October meeting of the Montgomery ISD school board, trustees
voted to approve the 2024-25 course selection guide for junior high and high school students.
Highlights in the course selection guide include the addition of a music fine arts course for 6th
graders, the addition of American Sign Language and updates to the Career and Technical
Education programs of study, including an Oil and Gas Production pathway, as well as
Construction, Welding and Automotive courses.
You can view a full list of the changes to the existing secondary course selection guide here. The
approved 2024-25 course selection guide will be shared with students and families through
their campus counseling office.
In previous years, the MISD Board of Trustees did not approve the course selection guide for
the following year until December. This year, to provide families and campus administration
with the opportunity to start planning for the following year sooner, the course selection guide
was recommended for approval in October.
“One area we have worked to improve in Montgomery ISD is the master scheduling process at
the secondary level,” Interim Superintendent Dr. Amy Busby said. “Starting this process for next
year allows students and families to start thinking ahead in terms of their desired courses and
also provides campus leadership teams with the ability to start planning ahead as it relates to
looking at staffing and other items to meet the needs of our students.”
Trustees also heard a report about the district’s recapture obligation. Under a law often
referred to as “Robin Hood”, Montgomery ISD must send a portion of its local property tax
revenues to the state for redistribution. This occurs when the property wealth per student
within a school district exceeds a threshold set by the state.
Montgomery ISD recently received notice from the Texas Education Agency that it would be
required to pay $3.1 M in recapture for the 2022-2023 school year. Purchasing attendance
credits from the state serves as the mechanism for making the recapture payment. Trustees
voted to authorize the purchase of attendance credits should the district be required to pay
additional recapture dollars for the 2023-2024 school year. School districts that opt not to pay
their recapture obligation are subject to the state detaching commercial properties from the
district and annexing those properties to neighboring districts, effectively lowering the tax base
for a district subject to recapture.
“Recapture continues to be a huge concern for this town and our school district,” Trustee Matt
Fuller said. “The state’s method of funding public schools is an enormous challenge for
Montgomery ISD. Not only do we receive below the state average in per-student funding from
the state… but also, under how the law is constructed, we’re required to send local taxpayer
dollars back to the state’s general fund while lawmakers sit on a $30B budget surplus. These are
local dollars that should be going directly to Montgomery ISD classrooms.”
Trustees also heard an update on projects funded by the district’s 2022 bond program. New
chillers are up and running at Montgomery High School, and the trustees approved the
purchase of new chillers for Madeley Ranch, Stewart Creek and Lone Star Elementary
campuses. The design for the district’s Career & Technical Education and Agricultural Science
Center is nearing completion with dirt work to begin soon. Design work for renovations at
Montgomery High School is also in the final stages.
“It’s very exciting to see more of the 2022 bond projects moving forward,” Board vice president
Nate Robb said. “These needed capital improvements will benefit our students and staff
members for years to come, and we’re firmly committed to continuing our focus on being
transparent and sharing frequent updates about construction costs, progress and timelines
with the community.”
Finally, in observance of National Principal’s Month in October, the trustees honored MISD’s
principals for their leadership on campuses and commitment to students and staff members.
“We are so proud of the work our campus principals do every day, and look forward to this
opportunity to celebrate them,” Board president Laurie Turner said. “Each of our campuses is
blessed by wonderful leaders who work tirelessly to meet the needs of teachers, students and
families. We recognize that strong leadership is the foundation of a successful school, and that
is why we are so grateful to each of our principals for their contributions.”