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21 Are transfer students costing the Eanes school district money by adding teachers and other full-time employees to the payroll?
Not according to records brought forward by district administrators during a study session Monday. District administrators also said transfer students were not masking declining in-district enrollment.
“The revenue generated by the transfers gives us crises management help; it’s a positive thing,” said board member Robert Durkee.
Overall, the Eanes school district has added 15 full-time equivalent staff members over the last nine years, not including staff additions for child nutrition and community education. Those staff additions have been made to maintain excellence, not cover transfer students, said district Superintendent Nola Wellman.
In-district enrollment last fall was similar to 2002 levels, with 6,935 students last year compared to 6,923 in 2002. But transfer student populations have been growing. There were 428 out-of-district transfers last school year compared to 39 in 2002-2003.
Wellman said the district has honed its staff to focus on improving student performances on statewide accountability tests, increasing the number of students testing in commended ranges and boosting campus accountability ratings.
“Our staffing is a very, very complex process aimed at maintaining excellence,” she told board members. “Staffing is allotted based on students and program needs.”
Board member Clint Sayers asked administrators if the increases in staff in recent years were related to the increases in transfer students the district experienced when it adopted an open policy in 2002, allowing students from other districts to attend Eanes schools without paying tuition. The district receives money from the state for every student it educates, including transfer students. But the families of transfer students pay no property taxes to support local schools.
In response to the question, district human resources director Lester Wolfe confirmed that the district had added staff in recent years. Helping to pay for those new staff members are Eanes Education Foundation donations, high school allotment funding, bond money and federal title funding, he said. Transfer students also help fund programs, bringing in an estimated $3.5 million a year.
During the time frame between 2001 and 2010, the district’s accountability rating with the Texas Education Agency did rise. In the 2007-08 school year, four Eanes campuses were ranked acceptable and five were ranked exemplary. This year, all nine campuses and the district itself are ranked exemplary. Wolfe said the increases in staff and the transfer students were not related. After reviewing the information, other board members seemed to agree.
“The way you increase performance is by increasing the quality of instruction in the classroom,” said Durkee.
Better performance means better instruction and better programs and that means more staff, he said.
“Really, comparing enrollment to transfers is not a good comparison,” said board member Colleen Jones. “We would have the same increase [in staff] to become exemplary whether or not we had the transfer students. [With transfers] we are just putting kids in where they wouldn’t cost any more money.”
The district has added 18 teachers since 2001; 12 were added because of a program funded through federal stimulus money. The district also put 11 FTE teacher’s assistants into its classrooms.
“So, transfer students don’t really add teachers,” said board member Kal Kallison. “Do they add other staff member? I would think if so, that increase would be pretty nominal.”
He asked Wolfe if the district had added any non-teaching positions related to transfers.
“None,” Wolfe said.
Board member Ellen Balthazar said the board was looking at transfer student and staffing numbers as a logic check, to make sure the district’s transfer policy was working to add to the district financially rather than take money from the coffer. By the end of Monday’s meeting, most board members agreed to move on to other budget and bond issues. Sayers remained concerned that transfer students contribute to some of the increase in the number of the district’s FTE employees. He pointed out that, after the district cut nearly 150 employees during enrollment declines from 2001 to 2005, significant employees have been added back into the budget, something not reflected in the overall FTE statistics. Eanes added 54 FTEs between 2006 and 2007, another 26 between 2007 and 2008 and 16 last year.
“I don’t disagree that some of that increase in FTEs is due to things we all want, things like excellence and extra counselors and teacher aides,” he said. “But let’s look at that. Let’s look at which employees were added in the last few years, what they do and what the district’s intent was in adding them. We are in the people business; 85 percent of our expense is in salaries. If (board members) don’t understand who we have on staff and what their roles are, then we can’t make good decisions.”
Sayers said understanding staff shifts and the cost of educating students will be increasingly important in the tough economics ahead.
“We need to see information that lets us say, ‘This is what excellence costs,’ ” Sayers said, adding that they must then ask, “Can we afford it?”
Why on earth are transfer students invited to attend Eanes schools ‘tuition free’ while those of us living in the district pay taxes to support the school district? How about we start charging tuition to compensate for the increase in class sizes compromising the quality of education for our ‘in district’ students. Or maybe we should all consider a move to a less expensive neighborhood and just transfer our kiddos back into Eanes. There is a cost to educate the rapidly growing population of transfer students; it diminishes not only our financial resources, but the classroom experience as well.
So 4% of our student population is made up of transfer students? This taxpayer demands to know the true cost-benefit analysis of supporting these 428 students.
Where are the financial figures that show our “actual” costs and our “education quality” costs? It is important to know: how many classrooms are obtaining class size “waivers” in order to accommodate these students? That is, how many classes (particularly in elementary) are exceeding the state size limits because of those students? Many 5th grade classes in our district are now holding 30 plus (rather than the state mandated 25) students, and I can tell you as a parent and a teacher that 5 more students makes a huge difference in the quality of the classroom experience for the children. Man AP classes in the high school are also exceedingly large. Are we just over-crowding our classrooms in order to accommodate these extra transfer students and thereby gain the state money they bring with them? I ask the school board to provide the taxpayers with the true financial justification for this large transfer population.
Dear Sell, I think it would be a wonderful idea for you to sell your Westlake property and transfer back in to the district. Then you may find something nice to say about our great schools and administration.
Why don’t you and the others get on the backs of the state legislators and do something about Robin Hood and get off the backs of the Eanes administrators?? Oh, I see. You say it’s easier to moan and groan about it? No doubt.
Here’s why this problem isn’t an issue for state legislators: Local Control. Take any of these issues to a legislator and he/she will tell you … that’s a local matter. Silence, keep moaning and groaning. Meanwhile, we’ll be working to hold the administrators of this district accountable for the problems they create and the children and employees they hurt along the way.
“How about we start charging tuition to compensate for the increase in class sizes compromising the quality of education for our ‘in district’ students. Or maybe we should all consider a move to a less expensive neighborhood and just transfer our kiddos back into Eanes. There is a cost to educate the rapidly growing population of transfer students; it diminishes not only our financial resources, but the classroom experience as well.”
Or, you could simply try to undo Ann Richards Robin Hood plan…
The issue with transfers is not that they may or may not cost more money- the issue is time with the teacher. How much individual time is a teacher able to give each child in a classroom of 18 versus a classroom of 22 in elementary? How much time is a teacher able to give each child in middle school in a classroom of 27 versus 20? How much time is a teacher able to give each student in a high school classroom of 22 versus 30?
They teach math for 45 minutes in elementary- she teaches whole teach for 15 minutes then must hit each kid and make sure those who need higher levels get further instruction and those who need extra help get that time. This is the issue with transfers- is time with students less valuable than money??
I think before people begin to place a single label on a group of students that you should look at this from more than just one point of view. The transfer students that are accepted into the district are not just a number or an expense. They are screened by the administrators and have to meet certain criteria. They do not just let any student walk in and enroll in school. Many are being turned away. The transfer students can not have attendance problems, they can not have issues with discipline, they have to maintain passing grades, and performance on state mandated test are reviewed as well. Perhaps it could be that they are helping us to achieve and maintain our exemplary rating that we hold since the administration does have the right to review each application for transfer and select only the ones that will help our district. As stated in the article, the district does get state money for them so they sould not be costing the district to spend unnecessarily. Please note importantly as well that many of the students that are accepted as transfers are the children of our wonderful teachers and staff. What if those teachers decided to pack up, take their high achieving child, and teach the kids in another district?
The core problem with the transfer student issue is the way Eanes is turning itself into a private school funded by public money. Public schools do not get to screen students as Ms. Janet describes above. In fact, doing so is discrimination by a public entity and therefore potentially illegal. The model of Eanes ISD property owners paying taxes to educate screened applicants from outside the district is actually quite atrocious. Eanes parents should keep in mind that these screened applicants might take your child’s seat in the classroom, your child’s position on the team, or your child’s place in the top 10%.
I think the local board discussion on the cost of transfers is disingenuous. No district, even the poorest, educates students only on the state funding they bring in or are credited to Robin Hood. Robin Hood will not be changed because the State of Texas will never pass a tax increase that would be necessary to stop the transfer of 50% of our tax dollars to other districts. That being said, at least as an interim measure, we need to start charging tuition–the real cost of educating transfer students. Teachers’ children are normally exempt from such charges as an employee benefit. Educator is right that the district cannot legally discriminate in transfers, but I think that any child in special education in another district will not be accepted as a transfer here. Maybe that would be a good open records request! To the extent that we are cherry picking the rest, our academic numbers are being artificially inflated. There are lots of rumors out there about monkey business in the transfer area.
Long term, we need to realize that the possibility of significant further growth is passed (memo to board candidates–all that undeveloped land you see driving through Westlake are legally protected greenbelts or unbuildable plots, and Dell’s private wildlife preserve–the last large plot that could have been developed in EISD). It’s time to tackle the larger issue of utilization of space. We need to close an elementary(and the decision of which one to close should be a separate issue), adjust our boundary lines, and rent (if we want to hang onto the property) or sell the empty space. We also need to immediately reduce our administrative staff (which has increased almost 100% since Dr. Wellman took office), and then they we shouldn’t be in such desperate need of additional office space. Will all of that still be enough to close our deficit? I don’t think there’s any guarantee, but I don’t see how we can afford the damage to services to children that would be caused by cutting the 90+ teachers it would take to cut $4.6 million from our annual budget!
We don’t want to be like California and assume someone will rescue us from our folly. Texas isn’t like that, and if we put ourselves in a financial bind, many who have previously been envious of us will feel like we need to lie in the grave we dug for ourselves. This is a problem we must fix locally!
Eanes does indeed screen the transfer students and deny admittance to those with disabilities citing “no room in the program.” This method, according to the district leadership, gets around any claims that the district is discriminating against children with disabilities who wish to transfer in. In fact, it’s difficult for district children with special needs to attend this public school district. Those children are often left with no choice except to find a private school. That’s exactly why the population of disabled children has dropped from 11% down to 8% in just a few years since Wellman arrived. Enter their replacements: the screened out of district transfer students. If district parents try to hold this administration accountable, Wellman just calls on her minions of private attorneys to take care of it. It’s all about making the administration look good, and never about the needs of the children. The transfer students are a means to an end for this superintendent; they replace the district students who have been forced out and they help keep the TAKS scores high.
EISD wants to be a private school district, and like private schools, they want to select the kids who come. The transfer program is the most flagrant display of this intent. Back when this started, I remember Gail King was just on board and she was baffled by the entire thing: taking transfers to “afford” excellence. I don’t admire much about her tenure–she rapidly lost her independence–but she pointed out the problems that we see now. The entire transfer program relies, at its heart, on discrimination. EISD admits who it wants, not the first X number that apply. Ms King was right to question this program then, and Mr. Sayers is right to question it now.
Public schools are not private; they must teach the children who come, not the children who they would select. EISD is trying to have it both ways–forcing out the kids they don’t want (those with special needs, learning disabilities, behavior issues, etc.) and accepting only those kids who bring up their TAKS rankings and guarantee their “exemplary” status. Dr. Wellman knows that this status is key to her success with this community.
So if we don’t admit the Hispanic child from East Austin for whom English is a second language and chose to take the Asian kid from Tarrytown instead, why worry? If we counsel a kid with Autism to the Capital school and replace him with the Asian kid, even better.
This is an icy slippery slope, and unfortunately, our school trustees don’t even realize they’re skiing. Every time that money talks, children lose.
The math is relatively simple : The District gets to keep roughly $3,500,000 that would otherwise be taken by the state because of the 428 transfer students. At $50,000 an average expense for a teacher that amounts to about 70 teachers that would have to be fired without the transfer students. Do the math, it is easy to see that the student teacher ratio for the remaining students would rise significantly without those fired teachers. If the numbers quoted above by the Picayune are accurate there should not be much debate.
It doesn’t matter how much money the district can or cannot make. Eanes ISD is a public entity, receiving federal and state as well as local funds. Discrimination is illegal. If the district is going to accept transfers, it should do so on a first-come, first-served basis. No screening. This is a public school. Public schools do not get to screen.
The district should serve the children in the district — not the children outside of the district. That’s not too hard to understand. It’s fine to allow the children of employees to attend but it should be ALL employees. Eanes ISD excludes the children of the janitors and cafeteria workers, for example. Does the district not want “those” children? Bingo. And same goes for many district children who cannot attend Eanes ISD. Eanes behaves as if it is a private school … funded by public dollars.
Yes, it’s true. Nola Wellman “counseled” me. She was dead serious when she asked “Have you ever considered moving to a larger school district where they have programs for a kid like yours?”
Nola, may I have a refund on my property taxes please? To fund the private school that wasn’t in the plans until I got a taste of Eanes ISD and … you.
In reference to “…a kid like yours.” – we should really consider how Superintendent Nola Wellman was hired. I have heard of other school districts this bad, but I really thought this kind of thought was behind us (fifty years ago.) We are progressive here in Austin, (right?) Can it be true that we really do not want to give the best education to the children who live in our district? Isn’t this what I paid for by moving here? Surely, not here in Austin… This is shameful Nola Wellman. Please defend yourself in this forum and explain yourself.
I am ashamed, I thought the districts academics are earned – not paid for.
Wow- this year class sizes in EISD are larger than ever before. Could transfers be part of the reason?
Just look at the growth in numbers:
2002/2003- 39 transfer students
2009/2010- 428 transfer students
2010/2011- 596 transfer students
2011/2012- 623 transfer students
This is a program that is out of control. Glad we all paid to live in EISD- would have been nice to know we could save on property taxes and just transfer.
Thank goodness for the transfer program.
It keeps Eanes afloat and allows good students to leave terrible districts like Austin ISD and get a quality education.
Transfers still cost us money. It costs over $8000 to educate each student in EISD. EEF says we need to donate $1110 for each student to help cover the difference between the $6000 the state gives us per student and the $8000 we spend. Per Ellen Balthazar we really make a little over $4000 per transfer student after costs.
If this is such an amazing way to help fund districts why are other districts not beefing up there rosters? Highland Park doesn’t allow them beyond employee students. Alamo Heights allows them but only a set number.
Transfer dollars are not the only answer. Yes, we need them but if we are basically educating an entire BridgePoint full of transfers something is not right. We do not need as many as we have. District students should be the priority.
If the transfers are such a financial windfall, why aren’t districts across the state jumping on the bandwagon? Numbers in Alamo Heights and Highland Park don’t mirror the Eanes trend of transfer recruitment and their growth in class sizes aren’t mirroring ours either. Hmmmmmm
Post #18 – Eanes ISD is a “terrible district” for many children. Those students (at all grade levels) are driven out of Eanes and then the district replaces them with transfer students who have proven that they are easy to educate. Eanes ISD already has the easiest of demographics and children who live in the district are NOT the priority of this administration.