The Beeville ISD Board of Trustees unanimously approved a “District of Innovation” plan at a regular board meeting December 13, 2021. This innovation plan provides the school district with more local control in order to better serve the needs of all students. The 84th Texas Legislature created the “District of Innovation” local control option with the approval of House Bill 1842 in June 2015.
What does this mean for Beeville ISD? For one thing, a “District of Innovation” designation provides greater flexibility in many education related areas with the intent of increased academic performance for all students. Beeville ISD’s local innovation plan allows the District to opt out of several sections of the Texas Education Code. These include:
- Certification Requirements - this will allow the District to hire for the hard to fill positions from expert industry certified and/or trade professionals to teach specialized certification courses like welding, cosmetology, culinary arts and dual credit instructors.
- Uniform School Start Date - flexibility of start date allows the District to determine locally, each year, what best meets the needs of the students and local community.
- Teacher and Principal Evaluation - this would allow for a more valuable evaluation tool to improve professional practice in our teachers and administrators.
- Minimum Minutes of Instruction - this allows the flexibility to alter the school day to allow for weather delays and/or professional learning without having to make-up time.
- 90 Percent Attendance Rule - this will allow the District to consider updates to its policies to provide students flexibility, allowing it to award credit based on mastery of course content, to give students more access to enrichment, and to make higher education credits more accessible.
- Length of School Day - this allows flexibility to adjust the minutes of instructions to incorporate half days each semester for professional development.
- Probationary Contract - this will allow the district the ability to add a second year of probation to a teacher who previously served as a teacher (5 of 8 rule) but new to our district.
- Staff Development - this allows districts to exempt from state mandated staff development criteria.
- Campus Behavior Coordinator - this will allow the district to move away from the designation of one person at each campus.
Beeville ISD will still be held to rigorous State requirements such as STAAR and STAAR EOC testing, strict curriculum requirements, graduation requirements, bilingual and special education rules, and all public record and open meetings laws. The District is also required to continue to meet state academic and financial accountability standards as outlined by the State of Texas.
The “District of Innovation” plan approved by the Trustees was the same plan presented and approved the previous day by the Beeville ISD District Advisory Committee. At the conclusion of the December 13th meeting, the President of the Board of Trustees Orlando Vasquez and Superintendent Travis Fanning signed a letter outlining the process that will be sent to the Texas Education Agency. This is the final step in the “District of Innovation” designation process.
Beeville ISD continues with a renewed commitment to increase achievement at every level for all students in the District. The “District of Innovation” plan aligns and embodies the Core Values outlined in their newly approved Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan is designed to improve the experiences of all students in the district and serve as a solid guide to the success of students, teachers, and administrators. Beeville ISD has now joined 124 other Texas school districts in approving “District of Innovation” plans. Click on the link below to read the detailed plan.
Beeville ISD District of Innovation Plan 2022-2027
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For additional information, please contact:
- Dr. Tiffany Spicer, Chief of Staff
Beeville Independent School District
201 N. St. Mary's Street
Beeville, Texas 78102
(361) 358-7111 X1035
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