FORT WORTH (WBAP/KLIF)- Fort Worth ISD Board of Education President Jacinto Ramos, Jr., and Superintendent Kent P. Scribner are among the signatories of separate letters sent to Governor Greg Abbott. Both urged Governor Abbott to set forth a plan for the coming school year that would waive attendance accounting requirements to ensure school districts receive funding for students who are learning at home due to school closures and fears surrounding COVID-19. The same as what was done in the Spring. The letter states: “Now that health conditions are significantly more volatile, we encourage the state to respond in the same manner and ensure districts do not experience loss in funding while dealing with intermittent school closures. The number of students that will be in remote instructional environments will undoubtedly be significant and the burdensome attendance accounting will be difficult for teachers and staff.” The second thing the letter asks is to set a floor for average daily attendance for next year so funding at least remains the same as 2019-2020. The district says ADA floor would mean that no district would need to contemplate reductions in staffing or other budget cuts this fall at a time when students and their families will need more support from their schools. Lastly, the district is calling on Governor Abbott to allow school districts to design curriculum that meets the needs of individual communities.
“Certainly, we all want students to be in school,” Dr. Scribner wrote, “but local school districts must have the flexibility to make sure that any approach taken is safe to students, staff and families without the fear of losing funding.” Ramos joined with school board presidents from Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio, just to name a few to ask the governor to resolve their concerns .“Conditions have changed dramatically in the last four weeks, and they continue to worsen daily,” reads the board president’s letter. “It is clear you recognize the ever-changing situation as we’ve seen the daily developments in both numbers of cases, pulling back from opening certain businesses, mandating masks in the majority of counties, etc. School districts and their communities are facing the same worsening conditions, and these recent circumstances are far more acute than when districts across the state were closed initially this past spring.”
Both letters ask Governor Abbott to respond by July 17.