Where have all the dollars gone?
Gone to region ESC, schools, every one
BY DAN PARKER SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

State Robin Hood laws force property rich school districts like the one in Port Aransas to share millions of dollars in tax revenue with poorer districts.

But Billy Wiggins, superintendent of the property-rich Port Aransas Independent School District, has found a way to benefit Port Aransas schools, at least somewhat, with a portion of the money that PAISD has to give away.

In contracts worked out by Wiggins, PAISD during the past two school years has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to the school districts in the Northeast Texas towns of Simms and Texarkana and also with two education service centers - one in Northeast Texas and one in Corpus Christi.

"The arrangement we negotiated meets all of the requirements by law ... and benefits the (Coastal Bend) school districts served by Education Service Center Region 2 and also has benefits for PAISD," Wiggins said.

Texas' 20 education service centers were created by the Legislature and the State Board of Education in 1967. The centers provide professional development, certification, cooperative purchasing, telecommunications computer services and other services for nearby school districts.

Education Service Center (ESC) Region 2, headquartered in Corpus Christi, serves 42 Coastal Bend school districts including PAISD.

During the 2005-06 school year, Simms and Texarkana ISDs received a total of about $9,604,000 from PAISD.

State law allows superintendents to pick and choose the school districts with which they want to share tax dollars and then work out contracts to that effect. Wiggins was superintendent of the Simms school district for three years before being hired in Port Aransas, but he said it was Simms' new superintendent who approached him - not the other way around - to start the relationship between Simms and PAISD.

Wiggins said he agreed to work out a contract with Simms because he knew Simms was one of the most property-poor school districts in the state. Working out a deal with Simms in the end also would mean a lot of money would go to the education service centers, providing an indirect benefit for Port Aransas schools.

This year, Simms and a new district - Clarksville, also in Northeast Texas - will receive an estimated $12,856,000 from PAISD. The amount is higher than last year because property values have risen dramatically in Port Aransas, causing more tax revenue to come pouring in.

Of the approximately $12,856,000, about $4,329,000 is to be split between ESC Region 8 in Northeast Texas and ESC Region 2 in Corpus Christi.

Exactly how the money going to Region 2 will be spent this school year is being worked out right now, said ESC Region 2 Executive Director Linda P. Villarreal. She predicted the money would be spent on products and services similar to last year.

On Tuesday, Sept. 12, representatives of ESC Region 2 gave a briefing to the Port Aransas Independent School District Board of Trustees. The spokesmen explained some of what was done during the 2005-06 school year with PAISD money at the Corpus Christi-headquartered facility.

"I would like to express the tremendous amount of gratitude and respect I have for you and the Port Aransas ISD Board of Trustees," Villarreal wrote in a letter that was addressed to Wiggins and distributed to trustees. "Your commitment over the past two years to the technology needs of Region 2 through the Chapter 41 (Robin Hood) partnership has had a significant impact on school districts region-wide."

ESC Region 2 during the last school year received a total of $675,168 from PAISD, all of it spent on computer technology and related services at the ESC.

Of the $675,168, some $334,418 was spent on software enhancements, telecommunications servers, switch

upgrades and security upgrades. The money also paid for Internet redundancy, which means that if one Internet source crashes, a redundant source will keep things moving, said Joe Cantu, deputy director for fiscal affairs at ESC Region 2.

Many school districts pay fees for using computer and Web-based services at the ESC. Because of the PAISD money, the ESC didn't have to pass on the costs of these improvements to school districts in the form of fees, Cantu said.

A total of $204,000 was spent on an online curriculum developer for kindergarten through 12th grade. Every school district that uses this Web-based information can have access to the curriculum and develop lesson plans from it.

The curriculum developer saves teachers time and energy in the development of their curriculum and formulation of their lesson plans, said Sonya Perez, deputy director for instructional services at the ESC.

"It enables them as teachers to focus their energy on effective instructional delivery and in monitoring of student progress for the content area they teach," Perez said.

The money PAISD has paid for this services goes toward paying for developing the system itself, its server and for training for teachers and administrators to use the system.

Part of the $204,000 paid for Faksonline, a web-based data bank of test questions that teachers can use to evaluate how their students are doing in advance of the state-mandated Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) tests. The money was used partly to develop the data bank and purchase servers for it. The ESC normally would charge a

school $2.50 per student for using the Faksonline service; but because of the PAISD money, a school district would only have to pay 50 cents per student, Perez said. Like all other districts, PAISD has to pay 50 cents per student for use of the service, Wiggins said.

Of the $675,168 provided by PAISD, some $65,000 paid for developing online courses teaching teachers how to better use computer technology in classroom lessons. The courses are offered at no cost.

The $675,168 also included:

+ $36,000 for a five-day teachers training course emphasizing how educators can use digital cameras and upload images in computers for classroom lessons.

+ $31,150 for software that allows teachers to develop and post online distance learning courses, especially benefiting homebound students, alternative-education students and students in districts that do not offer a wide variety of courses.

+ $4,600 for a video server, drives and equipment for development of online courses and multimedia training.