Task force organizes to focus on higher education in Katy area

HELEN ERIKSEN, CHRONICLE CORRESPONDENT Published 5:30 am, Thursday, September 3, 2009

A special task force, created by the Texas Legislature, has launched to help the Katy area plan for the future by focusing on improving and expanding opportunities for higher education in the community.

The Katy Community Higher Education Task Force, which met for the first time on Sept. 1, will study several options and make recommendations about education initiatives that will lead to investment in a stronger local work force, members said.

District 18 state Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, and District 132 state Rep. Bill Callegari, R-Katy, are co-chairmen of the group.

Hegar said first meeting was primarily organizational to give members the chance to get acquainted and to discuss the reasons for forming the study group.

Ann Hodge, president and chief executive officer of the Katy Area Chamber of Commerce, said Katy was fortunate to have representation in Austin that recognizes the need to come together to develop a vision for higher education for the entire community.

“We have an opportunity to bring together all of our resources and to listen to the options available to our community,” said Hodge, a member of the group. “My hope is that this task force will be successful in developing a vision and a proposal for creating a world-class system for higher education to benefit the entire Katy community.”

Katy Independent School District Superintendent Alton Frailey, also part of the task force, said the group would build upon efforts that have been “gathering steam” at the state level to implement the “P-16” education initiative, an integrated system of education extending from preschool through a four-year college degree.

The district seeks to establish a seamless “PK-20+” framework of education that would continuously boost the school district's ability to meet and exceed the needs of the community to achieve success well beyond the 12th grade, he said.

“With the economy doing a downturn, we're hearing a lot about the retooling of staff and what not and our main thing is education,” Frailey said.

The Task Force is composed of more than 20 individuals who represent various entities including educational, civic, business and parent groups in the Katy/west Houston area.

The group will explore options about how Houston Community College and the University of Houston's Cinco Ranch and Victoria campuses can provide higher education to Katy ISD students, Hegar said.

“I was very excited to see such a great number of people interested in the higher education needs of the Katy area, and I look forward to everyone's continued involvement to making this a very inclusive process,” Hegar said.

Frailey also talked about the growth in the 181-square-mile district.

The demographic breakdown among the 58,513 pupils enrolled is 49 percent white, 30.5 percent Hispanic, 10.4 percent Asian and 10 percent African-American. There are 52 schools and 8,300 employees served by an annual budget of $540 million, Frailey said.

“With Katy's high growth, we must look at all ways to ensure we have affordable higher education opportunities and a well-trained work force to meet the needs of the 21st century,” Hegar said.

The task force will hold its next meeting, which is open to the public, 6:30 p.m., Oct. 6 at the Merrell Center, 6301 S. Stadium Lane.

“We have an opportunity to bring together all of our resources and listen to the options available to our community,” Hodge said. “My hope is that this task force will be successful in developing a vision and a proposal for creating a world-class system for higher education to benefit the entire Katy community.”

helen.eriksen@chron.com