DISTRICT ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
This chapter describes the organization and management of the Galveston Independent School District (GISD) in five areas:
- A. Board Governance
- B. Planning
- C. Organization and Staffing
- D. Site-Based Decision-Making
- E. Policies and Procedures
- F. Bolivar Peninsula
F. BOLIVAR PENINSULA
GISD's boundaries extend onto the lower Bolivar Peninsula (Bolivar), a part of the mainland northeast of Galveston Island across the major shipping lane entrance into the Port of Galveston and the Houston Ship Channel from the Gulf of Mexico. Access to Bolivar from the eastern end of Galveston Island is by ferry that is a part of Texas State Highway 87. Bolivar is approximately 25 miles long and includes the towns and villages of Port Bolivar, Crystal Beach, Singing Sands - West, Singing Sands, Gilcrest and Kaplan. GISD's boundaries run northeast into Bolivar approximately 18 miles through Crystal Beach and Singing Sands - West. High Island ISD (HIISD) is contiguous on the eastern end to GISD and extends northeast through the remaining five miles of Bolivar and seven additional miles into the mainland and includes the town of High Island.
GISD has one facility on Bolivar (in Port Bolivar) serving approximately 206 students in grades K-8. GISD estimates that another 30 students come across the ferry daily to attend Ball High School. The Galveston Central Appraisal District and HIISD estimate the total permanent population on Bolivar to be between 1,800 and 2,000. Approximately one-half of Bolivar's permanent residents live in Port Bolivar on the southwest end of the peninsula inside GISD boundaries. Bolivar's residents consist of retirees and those working in the fishing and tourism industries. Bolivar also has many part-time residents that own a second beach home for recreational use. Due to the nature of Bolivar's tourism and fishing environments, the population is transient. GISD estimates that there is a 25 percent variance annually in the student population at the Bolivar K-8.
The ethnic make up of the 206 students at the Bolivar K-8 is 82 percent Anglo, 17 percent Hispanic and 1 percent Other. No African American students attend the school. The ethnic make up of the Bolivar K-8 is representative of Bolivar's permanent population. Forty-five percent of the students at the Bolivar facility are economically disadvantaged based on the guidelines of the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs.
A number of GISD students on Bolivar routinely transfer to HIISD. The total number of students currently transferring from GISD to HIISD is 123. Exhibit 1-13 shows the total students transferring to HIISD from GISD by grade level for the past two years.
Exhibit 1-13 Source: HIISD and GISD Student Transfer Records.
Total Students Transferring from GISD to HIISD by Grade Level
1998-99 - 1999-2000
Grade Level 1998-99 1998-99
Percentage
of Total1999-2000 1999-2000
Percentage
of TotalK 8 5.59% 4 3.25% 1 st 5 3.50% 7 5.69% 2 nd 3 2.10% 3 2.44% 3 rd 7 4.90% 5 4.07% 4 th 9 6.29% 3 2.44% 5 th 6 4.20% 10 8.13% 6 th 7 4.90% 7 5.69% 7 th 18 12.59% 6 4.88% 8 th 12 8.39% 14 11.38% 9 th 20 13.99% 17 13.82% 10th 12 8.39% 16 13.01% 11th 23 16.08% 11 8.94% 12th 13 9.09% 20 16.26% Total 143 100.00% 123 100.00% The GISD students that opt to attend HIISD must pay tuition transfer fees to HIISD. The tuition charge varies depending on the student category based on the National School Lunch and Breakfast program. Exhibit 1-14 summarizes HIISD's tuition transfer fees for GISD students attending HIISD schools.
Exhibit 1-14 Source: HIISD Business Office.
HIISD Tuition Transfer Fee Schedule
1999-2000
Student Type Tuition Charge Qualify for free lunch None Qualify for reduced-price lunch $80 per year for the first child plus $5 per year for each additional child GISD transfer students in grades 9-12 that qualify for Public Education Grant (PEG) None All other students $160 per year plus $10 per year for each additional child GISD's 1999-2000 total direct budgeted cost for serving Bolivar is more than $1.6 million. Operating costs are 79.2 percent, or nearly $1.3 million, of the total budget for 1999-2000 (Exhibit 1-15).
Exhibit 1-15 Source: GISD Business Services Office records.
GISD Bolivar Peninsula Budgeted Costs
1999-2000
Cost Category Budget Percentage of Total Payroll costs $941,920 58.83% Professional and contracted services $42,916 2.68% Supplies and materials $33,537 2.09% Other operating costs $11,527 0.72% Capital outlay $3,000 0.19% Food service $90,700 5.67% Transportation $144,412 9.02% Total operating $1,268,012 79.20% Federal and special funds $211,348 13.20% Technology allotment $22,323 1.39% Campus activity funds $13,620 0.85% Maintenance tax note $85,750 5.36% Total nonoperating $333,041 20.80% Total $1,601,053 100.00% FINDING
Providing educational services to GISD students on Bolivar is costly and students and parents have voiced considerable dissatisfaction with the current system. Consequently, a number of GISD students transfer to HIISD. One reason that students transfer from GISD includes the geographic issues associated with the location of Bolivar relative to Galveston. To reach Galveston from Bolivar parents and students must cross one of Texas' major shipping lanes, resulting in reduced access to athletic programs in middle school, transportation problems in getting to Galveston Island by ferry, and access to other normal instructional and extracurricular activities at the middle and high school levels. According to GISD and HIISD officials, one of the primary reasons that families wish to transfer their children is that they do not want their children to have to travel by ferry to Galveston Island because of timing and inconvenience. Of approximately 350 GISD students on the GISD portion of Bolivar, about 35 percent are already transferring to adjacent HIISD.
According to the HIISD superintendent, many parents are dissatisfied with GISD facilities and services on Bolivar. Each spring, due to the increasing number of GISD transfers to HIISD, the HIISD superintendent holds public forums in Crystal Beach and Port Bolivar to discuss transfer alternatives with Bolivar parents. Built in 1956, the Bolivar facility measures 18,480 square feet. GISD designed the Bolivar facility for 120 students and the facility presently has 11 permanent classrooms and four portable classrooms. The facility currently serves 84 more students than its designed capacity. And, although Bolivar's facility has a connection to the district's wide area computer network, due to the facility's location, the connection is much slower than for other district facilities.
GISD is planning to use $85,750 from recently issued tax maintenance notes for Bolivar facility improvements. Planned improvements include fire alarms ($7,750), an air conditioning unit ($8,000), an overall facility needs assessment ($10,000) and the elevation of portable buildings ($60,000). The GISD's November 1998 facility needs report, prepared by the maintenance department, states that the Bolivar facility needed recommended repairs totaling $98,400. The recommended repairs included the replacement of floor coverings ($26,000), the installation of fire alarms ($40,000), the replacement of two air conditioning units ($30,000) and the replacement of the cafeteria fire suppression system ($2,400). The Citizen's Facilities Committee recommended a complete assessment of the Bolivar facility in July 1999. GISD's maintenance department filled 74 work orders at the Bolivar facility between August and December of 1999.
Equal educational service delivery for GISD students at the Bolivar K-8 facility is costly and difficult for GISD. Total instructional expenditures per student of $3,314 ($676,189 for 204 students) for 1998-99 were the fourth highest of any district campus. GISD instructional expenditures per student for 1998-99 range from $2,473 at Oppe Elementary to $4,623 at the Alternative School based on Texas Education Agency, AEIS and Child Nutrition information. No Bolivar students participate in GISD's gifted and talented program. Bolivar students wishing to attend a summer school program must do so on the island, resulting in virtually no participation by GISD's Bolivar students.
GISD's transportation costs for the Bolivar operation are high. GISD uses at least five buses including a special education bus with drop-offs at the ferry landing and pickups to extend into Bolivar. GISD leaves three buses on Bolivar permanently, except when routine maintenance needs bring them to the district's bus barn. One regular bus brings high school students to and from Galveston Island daily and a special education bus makes the complete trip each day. HIISD also sends a bus all the way to Port Bolivar for transfer students resulting in duplicate costs for both districts.
The food service function on Bolivar presents a variety of problems for GISD. Facility restrictions prevent the school from offering menus equal to other elementary and middle schools in the district. The manager modifies the menus based on the ability to prepare items in the kitchen, which restricts the menu selection. The Bolivar kitchen is not equipped with the same capabilities as other district kitchens and, in recent years, has been found to be out of compliance with various local and federal guidelines.
The primary school's meals are served in a temporary make shift kitchen in the community center. The food is prepared in the kitchen of the Bolivar School and is transported to the primary school in containers and in private cars. The school has a van but often it is not working and the employees use their cars. The hot food is placed in a hot cart in the primary kitchen until service. The cold foods sit out of refrigeration. There is a milk box and an ice cream box. The temporary kitchen is also the cafeteria and the multi purpose room. There is no serving table. A sneeze guard does not protect the food. The vents in the ceiling are stuffed with paper. There is no separate hand-washing sink, and there is no restroom facility for the employees.
The Bolivar Middle School students are provided the same menu as the Bolivar elementary school children. On the island, the middle school students have a different menu. The space and availability of equipment in the Bolivar food service is limited, and the menu and service are adjusted to the facility. Some snack items and other a la carte foods cannot be served or prepared at this location.
The vendor that supplies the food items only delivers to the school twice a month according to the requirements of the negotiated contract. This supply schedule may also affect product availability.
GISD provides no security services for Bolivar and Bolivar has no two-way radio communication capability. While the principal indicates that security has not been a problem for the school, there are few mechanisms in place to deal with crisis situations should they occur.
A number of options has been considered over the years for dealing with the challenges facing the school on Bolivar, including detaching the lower peninsula and permitting HIISD to annex this area. Other options explored include allowing HIISD to operate the Bolivar campus, contracting with HIISD for handling students on Bolivar, or granting a local charter to the Bolivar area. HIISD produced a petition for detachment and annexation signed by the HIISD board president in 1976; however, no action resulted from this petition.
A preliminary analysis of the effect of detaching the lower peninsula and permitting HIISD to annex this area showed that GISD's loss of property taxes from the detachment would approximately equal the costs currently associated with providing services to the existing students. When HIISD annexed the area, however, their property value per student would rise, making it possible that HIISD would lose most state funding and even have to send dollars back to the state under the state's equalized wealth, funding formulas outlined in Chapter 41 of the Texas Education Code. Overall their total revenues would increase, but the total number of students being served would increase as well. Also, current debt obligations of GISD would, by law, be allocated to taxpayers in GISD's portion of Bolivar, therefore HIISD might have to pay GISD back for some portion of their current debt service for the life of existing bonded indebtedness.
One option that seemed to have the greatest potential for both districts was for GISD to contract with HIISD to operate the school. While GISD would continue to pay for services, they would not have the responsibility associated with providing services to students in a remote location. HIISD may be able to provide services to these students at a lower cost because the district is in closer proximity to the students they are serving. HIISD would have increased enrollment numbers, which would solidify their property wealth status below the levels that trigger the Chapter 41 provisions for sharing their wealth with other districts. And, with additional students, HIISD may be able to achieve some efficiencies associated with serving a larger student population, such as filling classes or being able to offer additional classes that were previously impractical for a smaller group of students.
Recommendation 15:
Examine all of the options for improving educational opportunities and support services for students in the GISD section of Bolivar.
These actions will take significant planning and time and should be discussed openly and jointly with the parents, students, boards, administrators, teachers and community leaders in both GISD and HIISD. Advice from legal representatives from both districts will be necessary. Consultations with and guidance from the TEA's state funding and legal divisions also will be necessary.
Some of the considerations that must, at a minimum, be taken into account include:
- Provisions for students already enrolled at Ball High School who come from Bolivar Peninsula and wish to remain at Ball High School.
- The impact of enrollment shifts on the state's funding formulas and the cumulative property wealth levels of both districts.
- The condition and capacity of current GISD and HIISD facilities as compared to current and projected enrollments.
- Provisions for continued services for students with special needs.
- Students that prefer to remain in GISD to participate in certain athletic or academic offerings that are not available in HIISD.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND TIMELINE
1. The GISD superintendent and board initiate conversations with the HIISD board and administration and jointly establish a feasibility committee made up of parents, students, administrators, teachers and community leaders in both GISD and HIISD. September 2000 2. The committee representatives begin meeting in open session to discuss the options and assigns research activities to members of the committee. October 2000 3. The committee, with assistance and guidance from legal representatives from both districts and representatives from TEA develop a comprehensive plan designed to improve services to students in the GISD section of Bolivar. March 2001 4. The committee presents a plan to the GISD and HIISD boards for review and approval. April 2001 5. The GISD and HIISD boards approve the plan and direct the administration of both districts to move forward with implementation. May 2001 6. GISD and HIISD begin operations under the terms of the adopted plan. August 1, 2001 FISCAL IMPACT
The work of the committee can be conducted with current resources. Any savings associated with efficiencies achieved by both districts will depend solely upon the option adopted by the districts and are therefore not estimated for purposes of this report.