School Health Advisory Council
School Health Advisory Council & Site-Based Decision Making Committee: TEC §28.004; TEC §11.251; BDF (Legal); BQA (Legal & Local), BQB (Legal & Local)
These TEC §28.004 requires school districts to establish a School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) to assist a district in ensuring that local community values are reflected in the district’s health education instruction and must meet 4 times a year.
TEC §11.251 requires school districts to establish district/campus-level committees to advise the Board in establishing and reviewing the District’s educational goals, educational programs and approve staff development. This committee must meet at least 2 times per year.
Proposed Flexibility: Poolville ISD seeks exemption from the site-based decision-making process and the convening of the SHAC and the many accompanying requirements falling under the governance of those two bodies. The statutory requirements set forth in the TEC in Chapter 11 are burdensome, time consuming, and ultimately cause a misdirection of resources from the primary focus of our school: the education of students. Stakeholders will continue to be involved in the process, but one that meets the needs of the District, school, and community as opposed to the broad brush of statutory requirements leveled down from a one size fits all approach as detailed in the code. In place of the SBDM and SHAC, a Superintendent’s Advisory Council (SAC) will be established, meet, review, analyze, and respond to both qualitative and quantitative data regarding the district’s success and most importantly, student’s success. This council will convene two times per year and generate the general direction of the district’s resources and efforts. Also, as a very small 2A school district there are not very many folks to be on so many different committees and combining these two committees will be an effective and efficient use of staff members’ and community members’ time. This will consolidate the number of meetings and the number of committees required by law and will better serve this school and community. This consolidation will yield greater opportunity for one council to address a multitude of needs and create solutions/plans as opposed to having 6 separate meetings with a different focus.