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Covering Katy Article on 1 Katy PAC:

One Katy Political Action Committee To Expand Its Role

By Dennis Spellman - Mar 26, 2015 285

http://coveringkaty.com/2015/03/26/katy-political-action-committee-expand-role/

Courtesy One Katy PAC

KATY (Covering Katy) – Fresh off its November victory, passing the Katy school district’s $748 million bond, One Katy PAC is now expanding its focus. One Katy PAC has moved from a “specific purpose” to a “general purpose” political action committee.

“Changing our status allows us to expand our interests and address many areas that impact our rapidly growing area,” said Melissa Nixon, One Katy PAC chairperson.

Nixon says One Katy plans to add legislative lobbying to its duties. During the current legislative session the group will focus on reducing the amount of accountability testing at the elementary level.

“Currently we are doing more than what the federal government requires,” Nixon said. “We are testing elementary school students entirely too much,” she added.

One Katy PAC believes Katy Independent School District is not getting valuable information from the STAAR test, and favors House Bill 3583 , which would create a pilot program that would exempt certain districts from administering standard assessment tests. Instead, if passed, it would authorize the use of an alternative system of testing.

One Katy PAC will not be stepping away from local politics. It plans to endorse candidates in the upcoming Board of Trustees election.

“We have invited all four candidates to come speak to us individually to see if their vision is in line with what we envision,” Nixon said.

One Katy PAC seems more likely to endorse the incumbents because they supported last year’s bond. The challengers are running against parts of the bond, including the cost of the football stadium. Nixon says challenger John Pendergraff has already declined to meet with One Katy PAC.

7 COMMENTS

Mary McGarr Mar 27, 2015 at 11:39 am

The Texas State Board of Education created new guidelines for the curriculum a few years ago. They mandated that Type #1 teaching be returned to public schools to complement the STAAR Test which is given to students. The STAAR test is designed to measure Type#1 teaching of the curriculum standards. The test and the Tyype #1 teaching go hand in hand.

The State has already cut back on the number of tests students must take, so there are not as many as originally planned.

This guideline wasn’t a request or a suggestion; it’s the law.

Katy ISD under the present Board and superintendent, has refused to abide by the law and change to the Type #1 system which in turn causes KISD students (except for the ones at the top of the academic ladder whose parents teach them at home using Type #1 methods and curriculum) to do poorly on the STAAR Test. It is understandable that parents are concerned with their children’s low scores, but the test is not the problem.

For parents to organize to “get rid of the tests,” or for the Houston ISD superintendent to try to get rid of the Conservative Republican Commissioner of Education in order to get rid of the tests, is outrageous.

I’m guessing their goals are not similar. The HISD superintendent knows exactly what he is doing–perpetuating the Federal Government’s desire to dumb down students. The organizing parents are perhaps naive to jump on the bandwagon, unless, of course, they too wish to dumb down their own children.

If one does not understand the issue, one should go to http://www.educationviews.org/education-101/ and read.

Mary McGarr

http://www.marymcgarr.com

Melissa Nixon Mar 27, 2015 at 11:40 pm

The objective is not ” to get rid of tests”. We need to have more meaningful assessments. Our current assessments do not provide any meaningful data for parents, students or teachers and only serve to stress students, parents and teachers. If the state doesn’t like the results, they just change the number needed to be correct to pass. We need to return to norm based assessments so parents, students and teachers have at least some sense of where our students fall in the bigger picture.

I am not concerned about low test scores..just meaningless ones.

George Scott Mar 28, 2015 at 10:56 am

Melissa: It is apparent that what you do not know about the substance of public education accountability and testing is virtually all that is knowable. As one closely identified with a group that now seeks to impose unqualified school board members on the community through the power of vendor-driven money for the most part, your comments constitute nothing less than an intellectual vacuum in which which no relevant analysis or facts survive. If you personally – you – want to schedule a classic Lincoln-Douglas style debate for say 90 minutes to allow comprehensive discussion in an independent forum at which your group does not control the microphone, I’ll be glad to accept that challenge. Your comments on testing and the use thereof is fundamentally ignorant. The statement about the state changing passing standards is testament to the fact that broken clock is right twice a day.

Mary McGarr Mar 28, 2015 at 9:29 am

My point was not about the reason for the PAC’s new interest. My point was that KISD is violating the law by not teaching the way the State of Texas says they are bound by law to do. If KISD followed the law and taught using Type#1 curriculum standards, the STAAR test would be QUIITE meaningful.

Read what I said again, please.

Stacy Mattison Mar 30, 2015 at 4:53 am

Mary: So opting out of the Starr test should not be a problem. Correct? If Katy ISD is violating Texas requirements then parents can require Katy ISD to only teach their children Type #1 curriculum or no Starr test for our kids. Correct?

Smarter than the Hype Mar 31, 2015 at 8:34 am

Stacy, I can’t decide if you’re intentionally twisting around Mary’s words or if you’re just doing it intentionally. Mary’s point was pretty simple: KISD isn’t following the law on Type #1 teaching standards; if they were, the district’s STAAR exam test scores would be higher. I’m not sure how “getting rid of the Starr test for our kids” ever entered the conversation.

I can't believe it Mar 31, 2015 at 6:16 pm

Assuming Mary is correct and the district is in violation of state law, can anyone tell me why this is the case?

Mary, why do you think the law if being violated and what can a reasonable person such as yourself who seems to know the law do about reporting the violation and bringing the district into compliance?

I have no idea what the law is, how it came into being, or to whom violations are to be reported otherwise, I would do it myself.