Aug. 16 marks the first day of classes for some students attending Houston Independent School District schools, and just by showing up they could win tickets to sporting events and restaurant certificates.

The school year for HISD Apollo 20 schools starts a week earlier than the rest of the schools in the Houston district. The Apollo 20 program is an initiative to increase student achievement at some the lowest-performing schools in the district.

Due to the early start date, HISD wants to remind parents to register their children for classes. In an e-mail to the media, HISD media spokesman Norm Uhl said, "Every year we have parents registering late which leads to unnecessary lines and waiting. Parents can minimize the wait by acting now. They can register their children at the school they are to attend." 

To encourage attendance at schools across the Houston district, HISD said it is implementing a new program that will reward students who show up at school every day with tickets to sporting events, restaurant certificates and more. 

The program is first being implemented at the Apollo 20 schools. Each day a student shows up for classes their name is entered into a drawing for the prizes.

Uhl said that all of the prizes have been donated to the district, and none of the donations or tickets come from vendors in the E-Rate technology program. Gift-giving from that program has been banned, following alleged ethics violations on the part of former HISD employees who worked with E-Rate vendors.

On top of the early start date, students attending the Apollo 20 schools will see longer school days and additional tutoring services.

The Apollo 20 schools are Key, Ryan, Fondren, Attucks and Dowling middle schools and Jones, Kashmere, Lee and Sharpstown High Schools. Elementary schools are to be added to the Apollo program for the 2011-12 school year.

The rest of HISD’s schools open on Aug. 23.

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org. Follow news about the Houston Independent School District on Twitter by searching #HISD.

The Texas Department of Transportation is buying $8.2 million worth of properties that are obstructing highway development in El Paso. But TxDOT is trying to keep private the names of those affected property owners, the El Paso Times reports.

 “In an open-records request, the Times sought identities of the property owners, but TxDOT officials filed an appeal with the Texas attorney general to block release of those records.

 

State officials said they were still negotiating some purchases and cited an exception to the open-records law. It says details about land purchases can be withheld by a public entity until a sale is final.”

The records might be available via the El Paso County Appraisal District, although getting the exact properties for the so-called East Side Spaghetti Bowl will be difficult unless one has a good map. Door knocking seems the only way to extract this very public information. But TxDOT offers an explanation.

"'The purpose of this exception is to prevent speculation from inflating prices when the expenditure of public funds is involved,' TxDOT lawyer Sharon Alexander said in a letter to the Times and the attorney general. 'Real estate can be very expensive, and TxDOT has the obligation to protect taxpayer money.'

TxDOT officials would not say from whom they have bought land. But, they said, they have already spent $5.5 million of the $8.2 million allocated for property."

Property appraisals can be kept secret if disclosure would harm "the governmental body's negotiating position" in obtaining other properties for the same project, according to the attorney general's Public Information Handbook. Even so, the properties' location is only protected up to a point and can't be withheld after "the public announcement of the project."

 

TxDOT has been obscuring information for some time. Check this 2007 article in the Oak Hill Gazette in which the same TxDOT lawyer, Sharon Alexander, maintains that plans for a highway are not public records. Ditto in Houston the same year.

 

Alexander has been defeated before in her assault against transparency. It appears she will continue to battle for state business in private.

Contact Steve Miller at 832-303-9420 or stevemiller@texaswatchdog.org.

 

Photo of a 'sold' sign by flickr user el clinto, used via a Creative Commons license.

Take a video tour inside Lee High School, where a library addition has settled and shifted away from the rest of the school. Houston Independent School District trustees gave the OK last month for up to $1 million in structural repairs, to be managed by Matrix Structural Engineers.

Contact Lynn Walsh at at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org. Follow news about the Houston Independent School District on Twitter, #HISD.

A curious situation has developed in Amarillo regarding the town’s nonprofit downtown development group. The group, Downtown Amarillo Inc., is reviewing an attorney general’s public records letter ruling that it must turn over some records. The ruling follows its appeal of a records request from a local newspaper, The Amarillo Independent.

And in this story by the Amarillo Globe-News, we learn that among the items requested by the Independent is a series of e-mails between Downtown Amarillo chief Melissa Dailey and the publisher of the Globe-News, Les Simpson, who heads the board of Downtown Amarillo. He also has a blog and a Twitter account.

The Globe-News story includes a call to publisher Simpson – or did the reporter just take the elevator to the executive suites? – who refers the reporter to a statement from Downtown Amarillo.

Meanwhile, the Independent writes about its open records triumph. In filing the open records request, "I wanted to establish a general principal that when a city government essentially hires an organization to do a government function, even though that function might be done by a different corporation, it should be subject to Texas sunshine laws," said Independent publisher George Schwarz, a former Globe-News reporter.

Texas Watchdog has partnered with the Independent on stories about public salaries and politicians' financial disclosures.

Simpson, the publisher, speaks on behalf of Downtown Amarillo on occasion. Simpson did not return a call or an e-mail. 

Simpson has been on the board since Downtown Amarillo was created in October 2008, said Dailey, the group's executive director. The group filed for its tax-exempt status about six months ago. Downtown Amarillo received $201,000 in funding from the city of Amarillo in its current fiscal year ending Sept. 30, she said, and another $50,000 from a taxing zone and another $20,000 from Center City of Amarillo, a local nonprofit that exists primarily on public financing.

These taxpayer-funded development outfits often claim immunity to the open records act. Even Wikipedia has an entry on the issue, as does the IRS. In many cases, these groups are subject to open meetings laws, and, correspondingly, open records laws.

Contact Steve Miller at 832-303-9420 or stevemiller@texaswatchdog.org.

Citizens Against Government Waste is calling Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling a Taxpayer Super Hero for 2009. The conservative taxpayers' advocacy group found precious few of them during a congressional session that featured the passage of federal healthcare reform, the $862 billion stimulus and global warming bills.

Hensarling, a Republican who represents the 5th Congressional District in East Texas, earned a perfect score of 100 percent in the group's annual analysis of what it says was the taxpayer's fiscal interest in 120 House and 74 Senate votes cast in the 2009 congressional session. Only seven of the House's 535 members, all of them Republicans, earned scores of 100 percent.

The group had no trouble finding Democrats to line the bottom of the scale. Led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., 105 Democrats, more than 40 percent of all Democratic members, nearly a fifth of the entire membership in Congress, got large, obese zeroes. The list included six Texas representatives. You can see how the entire Texas delegation scored here.

While not super, both Texas senators, Republicans John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, earned hero status for a voting grade of more than 80 percent. There were several congressmen who, according to the group, were nearly perfect, including Pete Sessions, R-Dallas, who scored 98, Michael Conaway, R-Midland, with a score of 97 and Michael McCaul, R-Austin, with a 95.

A Houston Independent School District administrator has had a lucrative side job for at least three years -- running an education nonprofit that has a nearly $2 million contract with HISD, something Superintendent Terry Grier says is “probably an ethical issue.”

Ann Stiles’ job at HISD in recent years has been overseeing the school system program coordinated by her own group, Project GRAD Houston, which tries to prevent low-income children in HISD from dropping out of school. Project GRAD has a $1.86 million contract with the Houston district, which school trustees renewed in June.

 As HISD teacher specialist for Project GRAD, Stiles is a full-time HISD employee, earning a salary of $67,318 this year plus benefits, district spokesman Norm Uhl said.

But that’s not her only source of income. Stiles is also the executive director for Project GRAD Houston, where, according to the group’s IRS form, she earned $120,201 in 2008 and listed an average 40 hours of work per week. The total paycheck for the two jobs comes to more than $187,000 annually.

Stiles’ moonlighting was revealed Monday by Grier to school system trustees and the public. “I want to bring it to the board’s attention as it is probably an ethical issue that should be discussed,” Grier, who took over as the school system chief last September, told the group. He didn’t elaborate.

 However, school officials had previously known of Stiles’ two jobs, Uhl said, though he did not elaborate on how long the district had known. 

Asked whether an HISD employee is allowed to also work for a nonprofit that contracts with the district, Uhl said in an e-mail, “there does not appear to be a violation of any policy and it was known that she worked for the district. I just don’t think the question of the possible appearance of a conflict had been asked until now.”

Project GRAD Houston's IRS form and its Web site list HISD Trustee Paula Harris as one of the group's board members. Her name appears on the group's IRS form on the same page as the one identifying Stiles as executive director. Harris and another HISD trustee, Anna Eastman, had questioned Grier about Stiles' dual employment at the Monday meeting, but Harris did not volunteer publicly that she is a Project GRAD board member.

Stiles has submitted a resignation letter to the school district, effective Aug. 31, Uhl said. A school district staffer told the trustees Monday that the resignation had been turned in, though it was unclear exactly when it was submitted.

HISD salary records show Stiles has been a district employee since August 1993. She was initially hired as a teacher at Jefferson Elementary School, Uhl said.

The first reference to Project GRAD in Stiles’ employee file at HISD is in 1997, Uhl said, where Stiles is listed as a math teacher at the now-closed Lamar Elementary serving as a “Teacher Trainer under Project Grad.”

She began working as Project GRAD’s teacher specialist for HISD in August 2000, earning a salary of more than $40,000, Uhl said. Salary records show her HISD pay increased each year, up to the $67,318 she earned last year.

 It was not clear at press time when Stiles became an employee of the nonprofit organization Project GRAD. IRS forms for the nonprofit were available online as far back as 2006, and all three years’ forms describe Stiles as the executive director.

 Texas Watchdog called the Project GRAD Houston office number, asking for Stiles. A receptionist said Stiles was in a meeting and took a message. As of print, Stiles did not return the phone call.

HISD’s headquarters at 1800 W. 18th St. is 8.5 miles away from the Project GRAD office at 3000 Richmond -- a 25-minute drive in traffic, according to Google Maps.

According to its website, Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams) Houston is part of a national program that works to increase high school graduation and college attendance rates for low-income students. The national program grew “from a scholarship program which began in partnership with (the) Houston Independent School District in 1989."

The group was founded by former Tenneco oil chief James Ketelsen and his wife, Kathryn; James Ketelsen is Project GRAD Houston's president and board chairman, while Kathryn Ketelsen is one of Harris' fellow directors. HISD named an elementary school after James Ketelsen in 2002.

 In June HISD trustees approved a renewal of the contract between the Houston district and Project GRAD Houston. The agreement for the coming school year, for $1.86 million, includes work at three high schools -- Jefferson Davis, John Reagan and Jack Yates -- and five elementary schools, Thomas Jefferson, James Ketelsen, Adele Looscan, Clemente Martinez and Sidney Sherman.

The possible addition of a ninth site, Phillis Wheatley High School in northeast Houston, prompted Grier’s mention of Stiles’ dual employment at Monday's school board meeting. The addition of Wheatley and the additional costs of $59,221 associated with it are up for approval by school trustees Thursday (agenda item D-4).

Do you think HISD should have a policy that prohibits an employee from receiving a taxpayer-funded salary from the school district while at the same time working for a business or nonprofit that contracts with the district?

Let Texas Watchdog know what you think. Contact Lynn Walsh, Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org or 713-228-2850. On Twitter, @TexasWatchdog or @Lwalsh, and follow #HISD for stories, meeting highlights and more on HISD.

Photo of stretching dollar by flickr user TruthOut.org, used via a Creative Commons license.

More Houston Independent School District schools are receiving higher state accountability ratings than last year, recent reports released from the Texas Education Agency show, but critics blast the standards as too low.

Over 100 schools in the Houston Independent School District received the highest state rating of “exemplary” this year and almost 250 schools in HISD made “adequate yearly progress,” or AYP, a federal requirement for campuses and states that measures reading, math and graduation and attendance rates. In both instances, the number of schools meeting the standard is greater than last year.

But what does it all mean? AYP ratings are a result of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. TAKS test results are used when determining both federal AYP ratings and TEA accountability ratings--exemplary, recognized, not acceptable, etc. But critics say the standards have gotten so diluted as to be a poor measure of achievement.

The Texas Tribune reported on the issue last month, underscoring the measure’s unreliability.

In fifth grade reading, 44 percent of students who were projected to pass actually failed. In eighth grade math, 38 percent. In 11th grade reading and math, 30 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

Houston Chronicle columnist Rick Casey questioned the use of the Texas Projection Measure last week:

Schools and school districts are bumped up one rating level if the TPM projects their students to do well enough to reach that level within the next few years.

I don't blame administrators or teachers, especially those with responsibility for educating low-income children, for liking the TPM. They have a tough job, and they enjoy getting public credit for making gains, even if those gains don't show up in passing rates on the high-stakes test.

And the West University Examiner raised questions about specific HISD schools that made it on the state’s list of “acceptable” schools:

Curiously, also listed as recognized is Fondren Middle School, called a failing school by HISD and placed in the Apollo program for schools in need of immediate turnaround or risk potential closure by the state. Other Apollo schools were included in the acceptable category, including Ryan, Dowling and Attucks middle schools. Four high schools in the Apollo initiative, Sharpstown, Lee, Jones and Kashmere, were named unacceptable. Kashmere and Key were previously on the state’s acceptable list until a recent TEA ruling that demoted both due to findings of test data improprieties.

It is not just the media that is questioning the rating system used by the TEA. HISD trustee Harvin Moore has for months raised concerns over the current rating system during board meetings. Moore has even opined on the issue on his personal blog, The Transformation Times:

“Each year, state standards boards have announced that they are lowering their ‘cut scores’ (number of questions a child must answer correctly to pass) for various noble reasons, usually because ‘the test questions are harder this year, so the same level of proficiency is reflected by a smaller number of correct answers.’”

Moore discussed with Texas Watchdog what he believes may be the solution to inflated state accountability ratings and lowered cutoff scores: Common Core. Watch the clip below for more.

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org. Follow news about the Houston Independent School District on Twitter, #HISD.

More than $3,000 in campaign contributions were made to Houston Independent School District trustees from individuals with connections to a district provider of alternative schooling during the months trustees were debating the renewal of the provider’s contract, campaign finance records show.

The city of Bell, Calif., was rocked recently with news of its top administrator taking in an annual salary just south of $800,000 and a police chief pulling in $457,000.

Those two have stepped down, although that hardly addresses the immeasurably obscene pay other officials are getting in the Los Angeles County municipality of around 37,000.

It appears that voter fraud may be part of the problem in Bell, with city officials playing the roll of politiqueros.

Texas Watchdog has documented similar practices here and here in this state, showing the often common practice in South Texas elections. California permits anyone to vote by mail under its no-excuse policy, whereas in Texas voters casting absentee ballots must be 65 or older, disabled or out of town during the voting period to qualify to vote by mail.

Today, California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced a voter fraud hotline.

“We’re finding out that Bell, not only are they paying their city manager more than the president, but there’s people coming forward talking about voter fraud, that some of the councilmen had policemen and others come and pick up absentee ballots, which you’re not supposed to do,” Brown told Good Day LA this morning. "We haven’t nailed it down, but we’re asking people to come forward, let us know if you have some reports about illegality in the city of Bell.”

Contact Steve Miller at 832-303-9420 or stevemiller@texaswatchdog.org.

A new state law requiring more and ready access to information from public colleges and universities is praised in a column by Justin Keener, a staffer at the pro-free market Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin.

The law was created last year by House Bill 2504 and requires higher education institutions to “establish uniform standards for publishing cost of attendance information, to conduct student course evaluations of faculty, and to make certain information available on the Internet.” This requires:

• A detailed syllabus listing each course requirement, recommended textbook, test and lecture topic for every undergraduate classroom course.
  
• A curriculum vitae for each professor, which includes post-secondary education, teaching experience and professional publications.
• A departmental budget report of the department under which the course is offered, from the most recent academic term it was offered.
• Cost-of-attendance information.

It takes effect in the coming fall semester.

Sounds like implementing the law would be easy, given the advanced technology at universities.

But there has been some push back, as Keener notes in the opinion piece published by the Odessa American.

Particularly vexing is the comment of Murray Leaf, speaker of the Faculty Senate at the University of Texas at Dallas, who told the Dallas Morning News that the law displays  "an insulting mistrust of higher education faculty."

Another academic, Don Davison, a faculty member at Galveston College who serves on the Texas Faculty Association's governing board, told the Houston Chronicle the new law "takes away from our core mission, which is spending time with students."

 

The bill was authored by Republican state Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, a member of the Texas Conservative Coalition. In order to implement the bill at the state level, four staffers will have to be added at a cost this year of $286,585, primarily for salaries and benefits, according to the fiscal note attached to the bill.

 

The Texas Public Policy Foundation was behind an initial move for this transparency and a member of the group testified in favor of the bill.

 

Contact Steve Miller at 832-303-9420 or stevemiller@texaswatchdog.org.

 

Photo of a college class by flickr user Brunel University, used via a Creative Commons license.