Monitor Photo/Denise York
Mabank ISD Superintendent Brad Koskelin (left) and Mabank High School Principal Charity Groom (right) congratulate high school seniors Mia Patlan (continuing left) and Brandon Browning for receiving a full academic scholarship to Notre Dame University through the Quest Bridge Organization. Both seniors are heavily involved in extracurricular activities and clubs and have achieved academic excellence throughout their high school careers.

Monitor Photo/Denise York
Mabank ISD Superintendent Brad Koskelin (right) honors trustees during Board Appreciation Month at the Jan. 23 meeting. Trustees Dustin Conner (from left), Todd Grimes, Erik Tijerina, Robby Teague, Kenneth Odom, Bryan Miller and Mikey Thompson were treated to a special dinner before the meeting and received various gifts from the principals.

MABANK—Mabank ISD celebrated Board Appreciation Month Jan. 23 during the regularly scheduled meeting. Superintendent Brad Koskelin praised the trustees for their dedication to the students and their many hours of work without monetary compensation. The Trustees were presented with several gifts from the principals of the district.
A public hearing was held to discuss the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST) Report which Chief Financial Officer Scott Hyde reported was a perfect score for the year 2020-21. 
The FIRST System was developed in 1999 in response to Senate Bill 875 of the 76th Legislature and has been amended twice to include critical indicators as well as financial solvency information. It is designed to hold school districts accountable for the quality of their financial management practices, as a tool that creates transparency and discloses the quality of local processes the district uses concerning the financial resources it receives. Hyde said “I am happy to report that in any of the areas not scored, we would have passed the requirements had they been scored.” 
Hyde explained the rating system has recently been modified to have four different ratings A – Superior Achievement (90-100 points), B – Above Standard Achievement (80-89), C – Meets Standard Achievement (70-79) and F – Substandard Achievement (0-69). Of the 20 indicators, two were not scored due to pending changes so a perfect score for that indicator was entered. Indicator 10 deals with the difference between budgeted amounts and actual revenues and was also not scored due to COVID impacting the results. Also not scored was indicator 15 which deals with a report to TEA concerning the district’s ADA ratio to the biennial pupil projections. 
The first six are critical indicators that deal with compliance on payments and reporting. Indicator 6 states “Was the average change in fund balance over 3 years less than 25% decrease or did the Fund Balance exceed 75 days of operating expense? The district satisfied both of those requirements. The next seven questions are solvency indicators... Indicator 7 looks at how long the district could operate with no external revenue sources. We could go 169 days or five and a half months and they were looking for 90 days as the minimum standard there,” Hyde stated. Most of the metrics in these indicators exceed the standards needed, he added. 
The last five questions, ceiling indicators, deal with operation and financial compliance issues and all were perfect scores. The last two questions deal with the district website “Did the District post the required information in accordance with government codes, Texas Education code and all other statutes and the answer is yes,” Hyde added. Additional reporting requirements required including Superintendent and Board Travel reimbursements, outside compensation received by the Superintendent, Superintendent and Board gifts exceeding $250 and business transactions between the school district and any board member were also in compliance.
Chief Academic Officer Rebecca Stephens presented the Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR) for the 2021-22 school year in the second public hearing. The yearly report contains academics, ethnicities of student population, teacher retention, at-risk population and other reporting to the community.
“We have decreased in the white population and increased in the Hispanic population,” Stephens reported. English language learners have increased by two percent and at-risk student population is up by 13%. Approximately two-thirds of the student population is economically disadvantaged.
The State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests students in the areas of reading, math, writing and science in grades 3 through 8 as well as end-of-course tests in Algebra I, English I and II, US History and Biology. In the 2021-22 STAAR Data summed up across the grades, Stephens said she was pleased with the overall performance. “In the approaches level, we were  above both the state and region and in the meets level where we want all students to be when they go to the next grade level, we were also above the state and region,” Stephens stated. “In the Masters area, we were below either the state or region in reading, science and social studies.” In academic growth which measures whether the students grew in reading and math, students improved greatly in math but growth was lower than the state and region in reading.
Regarding Accreditation Status, Stephens told the group the TEA has not given accreditation since the 2019-20 school year in which the district was accredited. Campus Improvement plans have already been discussed at a previous meeting. Stephens briefly touched on progress toward goals. In the Report on Violent or Criminal Incidents, incents with drugs and tobacco have increased.
There was no information available for student performance in postsecondary institutions. There is a TAPR glossary available at rptsavr1.te.texa.gov/perfreport/tapr/2022/glossary/pdf.
In other business, trustees: 
• approved renewal of superintendent’s contract, vote was unanimous. 
• approved two out-of-state trips for high school students, one to Greece and Italy for Spring Break 2024, and one to Panama for Summer 2024.
• approved renewal of TASB insurance at 12.4% increase.
• approved board resolution regarding hazardous traffic which allows bus service for students living closer than two miles for safety reasons.
• approved Crossland Construction for Junior High locker room renovations with contract to be negotiated and brought to board meeting for approval. Construction would be done during Spring Break.
• approved consent agenda items including minutes from Jan. 4, Dec. 12, 2022, Nov. 28., 2022 meetings, financial reports, check register reports, cash position report, tax collection report and quarterly investment report.