Board Notes: August 27, 2024

Presentations and Recognitions

Ryan High Student Selected to National Youth Orchestra
Ryan High School’s Osiel Cardenas earned one of the most prestigious honors in the country when he was selected to the National Youth Orchestra (NYO) of the United States of America earlier this summer.

Osiel was chosen through a comprehensive video audition process, and he was one of only 12 students from Texas selected. Following his audition and selection, Osiel completed a training residency at State University of New York at Purchase, with faculty made up of principal players from top professional orchestras. From there, he began touring with the orchestra, performing at Carnegie Hall and in Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil.

As part of their travel schedule, NYO musicians met and collaborated with local musicians to experience the richness of other cultures. Led by Marin Alsop, repertoire for the NYO’s concert at Carnegie Hall and on tour included Barber’s Symphony No. 1, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue featuring guest soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.

After performing at Carnegie Hall, the NYO made stops in Montevideo’s Auditorio Nacional del Sodre, Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colón, Brazil’s Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro and the Sala São Paulo. While on tour in South America, the NYO musicians had the chance to take part in peer-to-peer exchange with young musicians in São Paulo and tour the cities they performed in.

The principal of Ryan High School is Vernon Reeves. The orchestra director is Jeremy Atkins.

Discussion of Certified Values, Tax Rate & Chapter 49
Jennifer Stewart, Executive Director of Budget, provided Trustees with an update on certified values, tax rate and Chapter 49.

For the sixth consecutive year, Denton ISD is poised to decrease its tax rate. The proposed drop in tax rate would lower the district’s tax rate to $1.1569 – a decrease of $0.0023 from the 2023-2024 school year. Since 2018, Denton ISD has lowered its tax rate by a combined $0.3831, saving local taxpayers $384 per $100,000 value on their home. The median home price in Denton ISD is roughly $465,000, meaning the average homeowner will save roughly $1,782 in 2024-2025, compared to 2018-2019. 

The Board of School Trustees meet again on Sept. 24 to adopt the tax rate for the 2024-2025 year.

Discussion of 1925 Advisory Committee
Dr. Susannah O’Bara, Superintendent of Schools, provided Trustees with information on the newly-created 1925 Advisory Committee 1925, which has been assembled to assist Denton ISD leadership with a response to the district’s current financial circumstances.

Denton ISD is beginning the third consecutive fiscal year in which it has been forced to operate with a deficit Maintenance and Operations (M&O) budget, due in large part to the ongoing static nature of public-school funding at the foundational level in the State of Texas. The Committee recognizes that significant recommendations for reducing current budgeted expenditures and/or finding avenues to increase budgeted general fund revenues will be necessary within this coming fiscal year in order to stop the current decline of reserve general funds. 

Substantive budget reductions will necessarily include the reduction of personnel, and thus, district programs. Through this process, the district will be able to solicit input and feedback from a representative base of stakeholders to assist with the process of prioritizing these challenging decisions.

The 1925 Advisory Committee will understand Texas school finance, evaluate staffing formulas

and programming, analyze budgeted allocations of resources to current district programs and offer feedback to the district’s executive cabinet regarding how to prioritize reductions to budgeted expenditures – and how to maximize revenues in order to accomplish Denton ISD’s budget goals. 

PTA Annual Report
Denton ISD Council of PTAs President Amy Terrell and Denton ISD Council of PTAs Vice  President Aimee Jones provided the status of the district’s Council of PTAs work as a whole and provided a summary of work at each campus. 

Ms. Jones noted the Council of PTAs enrollment and explained how the Council serves each campus and individual communities/families while providing unique opportunities for all students within their school. Ms. Terrell further explained the 205 awards earned by PTAs across the district last year, including the following campuses that received the Golden Apple award for 100 percent membership of full-time faculty and staff: Adkins Elementary, Alexander Elementary, Ann Windle School for Young Children, Bell Elementary, Blanton Elementary, Cheek Middle, Crownover Middle, E.P. Rayzor Elementary, Hawk Elementary, Newton Rayzor Elementary, Paloma Creek Elementary, Pecan Creek Elementary, Rodriguez Middle, Stephens Elementary, Sam Houston Elementary, Sandbrock Ranch Elementary, Savannah Elementary, Strickland Middle and Union Park Elementary. 

For the 2023-2024 school year, there were 8,188 PTA members across Denton ISD. 

Athletics Department Annual Report
Dr. Chivonne Kiser, Assistant Director of Athletics, provided Trustees with an annual report on athletics. 

Dr. Kiser noted there are 8,844 total athletes in Denton ISD in grades 7-12 across 28 different programs (20 at the high school level and 8 at the middle school level) and 17 different sports. Dr. Kiser also detailed the academic success of Denton ISD’s student-athletes, explaining that for the 2023-2024 school year, over $2.3 million of scholarships were awarded to student-athletes. In addition, there were two state champions, 110 academic all-state athletes and 841 scholar athletes. Dr. Kiser also explained the district’s current emergency action plans (EAPs), concussion management, heat protocols and the coaches certification program (CCP). 

Fine Arts Department Annual Report
Eddy Russell, Director of Fine Arts, provided Trustees with an update on the district’s fine arts programs. At the elementary level, students attend art class and music class once per week. At the middle school level, Denton ISD’s art enrollment has increased year-over-year since 2017-2018, with 2,769 middle school students enrolled in art in 2023-2024.

Mr. Russell noted middle school band enrollment increased for the second consecutive year in 2023-2024, with 196 more students enrolled in middle school band in 2023-2024 (1,677) than in 2022-2023 (1,481). Middle school and high school orchestra enrollment also increased from 2022-2023 to 2023-2024, along with high school dance and middle school theatre. 

Legislative Priorities Update for the 89th Legislative Session-Legislative Budget Board: August 14, 2024
Dr. Deron Robinson, General Counsel, provided Trustees with a report to reflect the Legislative Budget Board’s revision to the Fiscal Size-up as of Aug. 14. 

2024-2025 Enrollment Update
Dr. O’Bara provided an update on enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year. As of Aug. 20, Denton ISD had more than 33,100 students enrolled

Quarterly Investment Report - 4th Quarter FY2024
Vicki Garcia, Executive Director of Financial Operations, provided an overview to Trustees regarding the district’s investment report for the quarter ending June 30, 2024.

Intruder Detection Audit Report
Dr. O’Bara provided an update on the recent Intruder Detection Audits conducted by the Texas School Safety Center. Further detail was provided to the board in executive session for safety and security.