Round Rock ISD
Legislative Priorities 2024

The Round Rock ISD Board of Trustees has identified several priorities for the 89th Legislature. With a mission to inspire students to learn, and to empower students for life, Round Rock ISD will focus on the following legislative priorities:

1. Recapture
2. A Fair and Transparent Accountability System
3. School Finance and Funding
4. Teacher Recruitment and Retention
5. Special Education Finance & Funding
6. Mental Health & School Safety

RECAPTURE

The Issue:
Recapture, a system implemented in 1994 to redistribute property tax revenue from property-wealthy districts to less affluent ones, needs reform to ensure equitable funding for public education. In Round Rock ISD, substantial portions of local taxes are sent to the state, reducing the resources available for students. Round Rock ISD contributes millions annually, yet still faces budget constraints that impact student services and teacher salary. Reforming recapture, which was created in 1993, would allow the district to retain more local funds to improve educational quality while maintaining statewide equity.

We Support:

• Reforms that allow districts to retain a higher percentage of locally generated tax revenue, ensuring that local schools can adequately fund student programs, infrastructure, and teacher salaries.

A FAIR & TRANSPARENT ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM

The Issue:
The state’s accountability system relies heavily on one standardized test. Texas students need and deserve an accountability system that incorporates diverse factors that families care about and that truly reflects school performance. Assessments should be used as a diagnostic tool to inform instructional decisions that support individual students.

We Support:

• Pursuing action to ensure the rating system provides a fair, transparent, and effective system for assigning performance ratings to school districts based on consistent measures, method, and procedures.
• A rating system that adheres to Texas state law as passed by the Texas legislature.
• Efforts to reform the Accountability Rating System to one that uses multiple effective school measures for all grade levels and a more holistic approach to determining campus rating and measuring student performance.

We Oppose:

• The Texas Education Agency Commissioner’s retroactive and drastic mid-year change to the measures, methods, and procedures used for the 2022–23 school year performance ratings.

SCHOOL FINANCE & FUNDING

The Issue:
School districts are dealing with rising costs at every turn, yet the state has not raised the Basic Allotment per student since 2019. Students’ holistic needs — academic, emotional and behavioral — have never been greater, and recruiting and retaining educators has never been more challenging, but resources for public schools have not been adjusted to meet the needs of students today. Vouchers, education savings accounts, taxpayer savings grants, and similar programs redirect public funds to private schools and drain resources from local public school districts, which stand ready to serve every student and are charged with meeting each child’s individual academic needs.

We Support:

• Increasing the Basic Allotment to match the current rate of inflation since 2019, to ensure the full funding of public schools.
• Indexing the Basic Allotment every biennium to keep up with inflation.
• The Legislature discussing public education funding separate from discussions about education savings accounts or other ways of diverting public funds from public schools. Each matter should be considered independently on its own merits.
• Local control of school finances given to local school boards in Section 11 of the Education Code.
• Private schools being held to the same level of academic and financial transparency as public schools and to the same level of accountability to the state for student outcomes.

We Oppose:

• Vouchers, tax credits, taxpayer savings grants, or any other programs that divert public tax dollars to private educational entities in the form of education savings accounts and similar voucher programs that are exempt from the state and federal accountability and admissions requirements applicable to public schools.

PRE-KINDERGARTEN FINANCE & FUNDING

The Issue:
High-quality Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K) education is critical for early childhood development, laying the foundation for future academic success. However, current state funding for Pre-K programs is insufficient to meet the needs of many districts, including Round Rock ISD. This lack of adequate funding limits access to full-day Pre-K programs, especially for economically disadvantaged students. Expanding Pre-K access and securing sustainable funding would improve educational outcomes while reducing long-term costs for remediation and intervention. By securing more funding for Pre-K, Round Rock ISD can improve educational equity, close achievement gaps, and ensure that all students enter kindergarten ready to succeed.

We Support:

• Pre-K programs to be included in any future school finance reforms, ensuring that early childhood education is recognized as a foundational component of the overall funding model.
• The state funding full-day Pre-K programs, ensuring that Round Rock ISD can expand access without diverting resources from other critical areas in the budget.

SPECIAL EDUCATION FINANCE & FUNDING

The Issue:
Our district currently spends about 150% more than the state reimbursement to support our students receiving special education services.

We Support:

• Reimbursement for student special education expenses exceeding the amounts allocated through the Foundation School Program (FSP).
• Increasing special education funding weights based on the specialized services and needs detailed in a students’ individualized education program, or IEP.
• Increasing state funding to expand and strengthen behavior intervention services for students receiving special education.
• Enhanced funding would allow Round Rock ISD to provide specialized staff, resources, and training to better address the behavioral needs of students with disabilities, promoting a supportive learning environment that fosters both academic and social-emotional growth.
• Increasing state funding to cover the costs of initial evaluations for special education services, recognizing that a significant percentage of students referred for evaluation are found to require special education support. By increasing funding, Round Rock ISD can ensure timely, comprehensive evaluations that allow students with disabilities to access the services they need as early as possible, reducing delays and enhancing educational outcomes.

TEACHER RECRUITMENT & RETENTION

The Issue:
Texas is nearing a crisis because of a shortage of educators. Teachers face immense pressures from mounting mental and behavioral needs of students, rising inflation, and historically low pay despite their advanced degrees. Many are leaving and not enough are entering the profession.

We Support:

Focusing on recruiting and retaining highly qualified educators and staff to support student learning.

• Valuing educators as the highly skilled professionals they are.
• Increasing the Basic Allotment to match the current rate of inflation since 2019, providing districts with the financial flexibility to address urgent needs, and creating incentives for joining the profession.
• Ensuring that districts have adequate funding to provide competitive compensation in the face of historic inflation and competition from other industries.
• Increasing state funding specifically for bilingual teachers in Round Rock ISD. By offering financial incentives, the district can attract and retain qualified bilingual educators, ensuring that students who benefit from bilingual education receive high-quality instruction and support.
• Provide school districts with funding for self-funded health insurance plans that is commensurate with adjustments the state has made for TRS Activecare districts, and to account for rising health insurance costs of 5%–8% annually.

MENTAL HEALTH AND SCHOOL SAFETY

The Issue:
Schools are facing increasing concerns related to student well-being, behavioral challenges, and safety threats, all of which are exacerbated by unaddressed mental health needs. When mental health services are inadequate, students are more likely to experience emotional distress, which can lead to behavioral issues, bullying, or even safety risks within schools. Round Rock ISD must ensure that both mental health and safety initiatives are properly funded to create a safe and supportive learning environment for all students.

Currently, high student-to-counselor ratios limit the effectiveness of mental health interventions. Texas has a student-to-counselor ratio of 450:1, far exceeding both the Texas Counseling Model’s recommendation of 350:1 and the American School Counselor Association’s (ASCA) standard of 250:1. To improve student outcomes, we must work toward lowering the ratio to meet the ASCA’s guidelines, with ratios assessed at the campus level. Achieving these smaller ratios will allow for more personalized support, prevent crises, and enhance both student safety and well-being.

We Support:

• Increasing state funding for initiatives that promote the integration of mental health services with school safety programs, including crisis intervention, threat assessment teams, and restorative justice practices, to ensure that mental health challenges are addressed as part of a comprehensive safety strategy.
• Increasing state funding for school safety infrastructure, including campus security personnel, improved surveillance systems, and controlled access points.
• Increasing state funding for immediate access to crisis counseling and mental health services for students and staff following incidents that impact school safety, ensuring that emotional recovery is part of the district’s safety response plan.

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