WISD trustees hear demographic report for campus realignment

Representatives from Population and Survey Analysts gave a ver y detailed overview of their demographic study of the Whitehouse Independent School District and future population and growth trends.

The information gathered by Population and Survey Analysts was presented at a special meeting of the WISD school board Monday night.

The demographic study will be used to help the district draw attendance zones for elementary campus realignment next year.

With the completion of a new elementary school for 2008, all of WISD's elementary campuses will house kindergarten through fifth grade.

"I'm very impressed with the amount of data and analysis," said Randall Robinson, school board president.

The next step in the realignment process will be for WISD administration to submit nominations for the committee which will use the demographic information to create attendance zones. The survey representatives recommended to board members that a 25-30 person committee would be necessary.

Once committee members are chosen, Population and Survey Analysts will present its overview again and help the committee disseminate the information.

The survey information presented to trustees indicated that WISD includes an area of 77 square miles and that Whitehouse is second to Tyler in the number of students per square mile in the East Texas area (58 to Tyler's 89).

The sur vey also showed that Whitehouse was one of two schools out of 80 East Texas districts with the lowest number of students on the free and reduced lunch program. According to the presentation, this is significant because that indicates a higher median income for the district which correlates with other quality of life issues that would affect future growth and interest in the area.

An estimate of first-day enrollment for WISD was given at 4,319; the survey estimated a growth of about 20 student by October and more than 500 over the next five years.

In addition to elementary school realignment, the survey reps also advised the board that the district would likely have to have two sixth through eighth grade campuses in five or six years.

In other matters, trustees accepted the proposed budget for 2007-2008 and set a new tax rate. The new rate of $1.20 would be about 24.5 cents lower than last year.

The board also voted to reject a contract from Smith County Juvenile Board for educational services for 2007-08 and gave Supt. Dennis Miller authority to negotiate and sign a contract that meets with his and attorney Jay Youngblood's approval.

One of the issues with the contract is cost of services, which have risen since last year.