TRANSMITTAL LETTER February 5, 2003 The Honorable Rick Perry, Governor The Honorable David Dewhurst, Lieutenant Governor The Honorable Thomas R. Craddick, Speaker of the House Commissioner Felipe Alanis, Ph.D. Fellow Texans: I am pleased to present my performance review of the Brownsville Independent School District (BISD). This review is intended to help BISD hold the line on costs, streamline operations, and improve services to ensure that more of every education dollar goes directly into the classroom with the teacher and children, where it belongs. To aid in this task, I contracted with Gibson Consulting Group, Inc. I have made a number of recommendations to improve BISD's efficiency. I also have highlighted a number of "best practices" in district operations - model programs and services provided by the district's administrators, teachers, and staff. This report outlines 101 detailed recommendations that could save BISD more than $49.1 million over the next five years, while reinvesting more than $8.2 million to improve educational services and other operations. Net savings are estimated to reach nearly $40.9 million that the district can redirect to the classroom. I am grateful for the cooperation of BISD's board, staff, parents and community members. I commend them for their dedication to improving the educational opportunities for our most precious resource in BISD - our children. I am also pleased to announce that the report is available on my Window on State Government Web site at www.window.state.tx.us/tspr/brownsville/. Sincerely, Carole Keeton Strayhorn Texas Comptroller EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In September 2002, Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn began a review of the Brownsville Independent School District (BISD) at the request of the BISD Board of Trustees, who agreed to pay 25 percent of the cost of the review. Based upon more than five months of work, this report identifies BISD's exemplary programs and suggests concrete ways to improve district operations. If fully implemented, the Comptroller's 101 recommendations could result in net savings of nearly $40.9 million over the next five years. Improving The Texas School Performance Review Soon after taking office in January 1999, Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn consulted school district officials, parents and teachers from across Texas and carefully examined past reviews and progress reports to make TSPR more valuable to the state's school districts. With the perspective of a former teacher and school board president, the Comptroller has vowed to use TSPR to increase local school districts' accountability to the communities they serve. Recognizing that only 51 cents of every education dollar is spent on instruction, Comptroller Strayhorn's goal is to drive more of every education dollar directly into the classroom. Comptroller Strayhorn also has ordered TSPR staff to share best practices and exemplary programs quickly and systematically with all the state's school districts and with anyone else who requests such information. Comptroller Strayhorn has directed TSPR to serve as a clearinghouse of the best ideas in Texas public education. Under Comptroller Strayhorn's approach, consultants and the TSPR team will work with districts to: · Ensure students and teachers receive the support and resources necessary to succeed; · Identify innovative ways to address the district's core management challenges; · Ensure administrative duties are performed efficiently, without duplication, and in a way that fosters education; · Develop strategies to ensure the district's processes and programs are continuously assessed and improved; · Challenge any process, procedure, program or policy that impedes instruction and recommend ways to reduce or eliminate obstacles; and · Put goods and services to the "Yellow Pages Test": government should do no job if a business in the Yellow Pages can do that job better and at a lower cost. Finally, Comptroller Strayhorn has opened her door to Texans who share her optimism about the potential for public education. Suggestions to improve Texas schools or the school reviews are welcome at any time. The Comptroller believes public schools deserve all the attention and assistance they can get. For more information, contact TSPR by calling toll-free 1-800-531-5441, extension 5-3676, or see the Comptroller's Website at www.window.state.tx.us . TSPR In Brownsville ISD On April 9, 2002 the Brownsville Independent School District (BISD) board voted to request a Texas School Performance Review (TSPR) and to pay 25 percent of the $350,000 cost. Comptroller Strayhorn selected Brownsville for a review in April 2002 and onsite work began in September 2002. Through a competitive bidding process, the Comptroller's office selected Gibson Consulting Group, an Austin based firm, to assist the agency with the review. The review team interviewed district employees, school board members, parents, business leaders and community members and held five public forums at each of the five high schools on September 3, 4 and 5, 2002 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Under a different Comptroller, TSPR reviewed BISD in 1994. The report contained 143 recommendations with projected gross savings of more than $23 million over five years and proposed more than $4.5 million in reinvestments to improve the district's educational services and other operations. In 1995 a progress report showed that BISD had implemented 138 of the 143 recommendations. In all, 97 percent of the recommendations were implemented and the district reported saving more than $3.3 million. To obtain additional comments, the review team conducted nine focus group sessions with teachers, principals, parents and community members. To ensure that all stakeholder groups had input, TSPR also sent surveys to students, parents, teachers, campus and central administrators and support staff. A total of 1,223 respondents answered surveys. One hundred forty-eight administrative and support staff;23 principals and assistant principals; 158 teachers; 276 parents and 618 students completed written surveys as part of the review. While these surveys were not scientifically administered, the results are included here to show the general opinion of those responding. Details from the surveys and public forums appear in Appendices A through F. The review team also consulted two databases of comparative educational information maintained by the Texas Education Agency (TEA)-the Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) and the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS). BISD selected peer districts for comparisons based on similarities in student enrollment, student performance and community and student demographics. The selected peer districts were Corpus Christi, Laredo, North East, Plano and Ysleta ISDs. TSPR also compared BISD to district averages in TEA's Regional Education Service Center I (Region 1), to which BISD belongs, and to the state as a whole. In May 2002, the district's board changed membership and current officers assumed their respective positions. On June 6, 2002, after the suspension of Dr. Noe Sauceda, the board appointed Johnny I. Pineda as interim superintendent. Findings in this report are based on data that pertains to events and situations that occurred over a period of time. Therefore, efforts have been made to identify and reference whether events and situations pertain to the former or current administration. Because surveys were distributed in August 2002, responses may be directed toward either the former or current administration or board. During its five-month review, TSPR developed 101 recommendations to improve operations and save taxpayers more than $49.1million by 2007- 08. Cumulative net savings from all recommendations (savings minus recommended investments or expenditures) could reach nearly $40.9 million by 2007-08. A detailed list of costs and savings by recommendation appears in Exhibit 4. Many TSPR recommendations would not have a direct fiscal impact, but would improve the district's overall operations. Brownsville ISD The Brownsville Independent School District (BISD) is the 18th largest school district in the state, serving more than 42,500 students in 50 schools, including five high schools, 10 middle schools, 32 elementary schools and three alternative schools. The district is located within Cameron County in the city of Brownsville, the state's southernmost city, which is on the Mexican border. The city is 25 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and is within minutes of South Padre Island, a popular resort island. In spite of a growing economy and employment opportunities, Brownsville has a low per capita income, with more than half of the households earning less than $25,000 per year. Almost 90 percent of the city's population over age 5 speaks a language other than English. Students are 97.6 percent Hispanic, 2.0 percent Anglo, 0.1 percent African American and 0.2 percent Asian/Pacific Islander. Teachers are 81.3 percent Hispanic, 18.1 percent Anglo, 0.2 percent African American and 0.4 percent other. About 92.8 percent of BISD students are economically disadvantaged. While BISD was rated by TEA in 2001-02 as an Academically Acceptable district and has no low performing schools, pass rates lag more than 7 percentage points behind the state average; 74.8 percent of all students are passing the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) as compared to a statewide average of 82.1 percent and a regional average of 77.9 percent. Exhibit 1 details the demographic characteristics