The average superintendent salary
Austin— The median salary for a Texas school superintendent in 2024-25 is $153,176, an increase of 2.1% from the prior year, according to the annual Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) and the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) Superintendent Salary Survey.
The survey is conducted each fall to help school districts across the state understand compensation trends. Of all the responsibilities entrusted to school board members, among the most important is hiring and evaluating a superintendent, said Amy Campbell, director of TASB HR Services, which administers the survey.
“As districts wrestle with budget constraints, current compensation data helps school board members develop a compelling pay and benefits package to recruit or retain the best superintendent for their district,” Campbell said.
Bluebonnet Curriculum is adopted
Critics say the curriculum overemphasizes Christianity. Texas school districts don’t have to use it but will receive $60 per student if they do.
A majority of the Texas State Board of Education gave final approval Friday to a state-authored curriculum under intense scrutiny in recent months for its heavy inclusion of biblical teachings.
Eight of the 15 board members voted to approve Bluebonnet Learning, the elementary school curriculum proposed by the Texas Education Agency earlier this year.
School vouchers and public education
After a wave of Texas Republicans dominated the ballot box on Election Day, Gov. Greg Abbott expressed confidence last week that he now has enough votes in the Texas House to pass a school voucher program, his top legislative priority since last year.
The governor shared his optimism during a visit to Kingdom Life Academy, a small Christian private school in Tyler, where he proclaimed that the House now has 79 “hardcore school choice proponents,” a number slightly above the simple majority the 150-member chamber needs to approve legislation.
During the same visit, Abbott also said he was committed to fully funding Texas’ public schools, providing teachers with pay raises and enhancing career training opportunities for students — all of which he refused to do last year when vouchers stalled in the Texas Legislature.
Arlington ISD setting metrics for Strategic Plan
Arlington ISD sets 2025 student performance goals. Trustees worry some are unrealistic
Students in Arlington ISD face higher performance expectations heading into 2025, prompting some school board members to worry the district’s new goals are too ambitious.
At an Oct. 3 school board meeting, trustees were presented with the district’s annual goals for how administrators hope to see students perform year-to-year. The school board approved the new goals with a 6-1 vote, with trustee Larry Mike dissenting.
During the board meeting, Mike and other trustees advocated for lowering some goals in areas he felt seemed unachievable.
Turning schools around
Appointed to lead Texas’ largest district during a state takeover last year, Mike Miles is embracing a model of wholescale systemic change.
Turning around a school district is no small feat — especially when that district is the largest in Texas and eighth largest in the U.S. But Houston Independent School District Superintendent Mike Miles doesn’t shy away from bold, wholesale change.
The former U.S. Army Ranger and diplomat to Poland and Russia has spent three decades as an educator. In that time, he has led the Harrison School District in Colorado and the Dallas Independent School District, in addition to founding Third Future Schools, a nonprofit charter school operator he resigned from to take the job in Houston.
Banning Cell Phones in Texas
Cellphones are “extremely harmful” to student learning and mental health, Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath said Sept. 18. Morath encouraged state lawmakers to prohibit students from using cellphones in all Texas public schools.
“If it were in my power, I would’ve already banned them in schools in the state,” Morath said during a Senate Education Committee hearing. “So I would encourage you to consider that as a matter of public policy going forward for our students and our teachers.”
School districts across Texas have recently tightened their electronic device policies, with some requiring students keep cellphones, smart watches and headphones turned off and out of sight while on campus.
Cultural Literacy is Important
The Texas Board of Education’s recent public hearing on the state’s proposed new curriculum sparked intense debate. Critics expressed concerns that it crosses a line into proselytizing for Christianity, or fails to give equal time to other religions. But these well-intended criticisms overlook a crucial point: The state’s curriculum, dubbed Bluebonnet Learning, isn’t the only thing that’s “Bible-infused”; so is English. Our language is redolent with concepts, phrases and allusions drawn directly from the Bible and other touchstones of Western thought and culture that speakers and writers assume their audiences know and understand. Knowing these things is critical to reading comprehension.
Hiring Teachers without being Certified
When Texas lawmakers passed legislation in 2015 that created a pathway for public schools to hire more teachers without formal classroom training, one goal was to make the profession more attractive to individuals from different paths who could offer hands-on learning to students.
Some school administrators made it clear they intended to place these so-called uncertified teachers in positions where they could leverage their fields of expertise and keep them away from core areas like math, reading and special education, which would remain under the care of their most seasoned educators.
Enrollment Hikes
Dallas schools started classes with more students than expected this year, which leaders say is the first time in nearly a decade that enrollment has trended up.
Dallas Independent School District officials projected 137,500 students would enroll in the city’s schools this year. But about two weeks in, Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde reported that they’d blown past estimates with more than 139,000 children.
Projected accountability scores
Dallas school leaders braced for a C rating for the district, down from the B it earned in 2021-22, but Texas’ official academic accountability grades are on hold once more because of a lawsuit.
Garland ISD, meanwhile, is projected to score a B, as it did two years ago.
The two districts had dozens more campuses earn Ds or Fs this year, compared to those that were not rated the last time grades were released, according to estimates.
Officials from the two districts released their projected grades on Thursday despite the ongoing legal battle against the Texas Education Agency that blocked the state from releasing A-F school accountability grades this week. The local school leaders said they are doing so in an effort to be transparent with families.
