AUSTIN – Commissioner of Education Mike Morath today announced a second round of the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) highly successful Lone Star Governance training sessions and encouraged school board members across the state to attend.

Lone Star Governance is an optional first-of-its kind training initiative aimed at providing a continuous improvement model for governing teams – specifically school board members in collaboration with superintendents – that choose to intensively focus on one primary objective: improving student outcomes.

“Successful student outcomes in the classroom begin with critical decisions made by adults at school board meetings,” said Commissioner Morath. “Lone Star Governance sessions are intended to provide an optional, supportive resource for school boards and their administrative teams as they make decisions that have the power to be transformative in the lives of our students.”

Lone Star Governance participants – ideally every school board member and superintendent from a district – should finish the two-day sessions in better position to effectively monitor student outcomes; effectively hold the superintendent accountable for improving student outcomes; understand the concepts of student outcome goals; and draft a Lone Star Governance implementation timeline specific to their individual school district.

“I have been a school board member since 2008 and the Lone Star Governance Workshop was easily the best training I have ever received,” said Rick Davis, president of the Midland ISD board of trustees. “It has been particularly exciting for us to work on implementing what we learned. I encourage every board member to take advantage of this excellent opportunity.”

School board members representing more than 25 school districts already participated in the seven training sessions held late last year and in January including: Aledo, Brazosport, Canutillo, Comal, Corpus Christi, Crystal City, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Garland, Hearne, Houston, Hurst-Euless-Bedford, Iraan-Sheffield, Klein, Marathon, Mesquite, Midland, Nacogdoches, Northside, Round Rock, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City, Sierra Blanca, South San Antonio, Tornillo, Tyler, Waco and Wichita Falls. 

“Lone Star Governance training has made a tremendous impact on our work, where the actions of the board of trustees results in clear direction for our administration,” said Dr. Marty Crawford, superintendent of Tyler ISD. “Our introspection resulted in changed adult behaviors and a new targeted, simplified vision: successful student outcomes.”

“The value for me was the explanation and definition of the word integrity and how it relates to me in the board room,” said Angelina Osteguin, member of the South San Antonio school board. “This training brought about a unity I was not expecting and the best part was that my whole board experienced and participated willingly in the same exercise for themselves.”

The upcoming two-day Lone Star Governance training sessions are scheduled on various dates in March, April, May, June and July. This round of sessions will take place at education service centers in Austin, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Kilgore, San Antonio and Waco. All school boards statewide are welcomed to attend any of these sessions. Districts seeking specific dates or have interest in attending one of the upcoming sessions can email Deena Cogan in the TEA Governance Division at deena.cogan@tea.texas.gov. 

“With public education’s constant state of change layered upon the wide range of goals expected of each school district, there must exist well-educated, dedicated school boards, superintendents and senior level administrative staff who stay focused, committed, and who work well together,” said Dr. Bonny Cain, superintendent of Waco ISD. “While there are no silver bullets to accomplish such a feat, the Lone Star Governance model comes close.”

All support materials being used in the Lone Star Governance training sessions is available for viewing on the Texas Education Agency website. For more information regarding Lone Star Governance and to view the support materials, visit http://tea.texas.gov/LSG.