Dickinson ISD trustees approve clean audit, Barber Middle School targeted-improvement plan and election services contract

The Dickinson Independent School District Board of Trustees unanimously approved the district—s 2023—1024 fiscal-year audit, adopted a targeted improvement plan for Barber Middle School after a federal designation, and voted to contract with the Galveston County Elections Office to run the May 3, 2025 school board election.

The board approved the audit after a presentation by the district—s external auditors. Albert Garcia of May's and Associates told trustees the audit was "an unmodified report, it's a clean report," and outlined fund balances and other fiscal items. Garcia said the district's general fund reported a fund balance of $23,500,000 (about two months of operating expenditures), the debt service fund held $16,200,000, and the capital projects fund had $128,000,000 that is expected to be spent as construction projects proceed. He said the district refunded bonds during the year and realized about $4,000,000 in cash-flow savings to taxpayers.

Garcia and district staff also reviewed budget variances. He said the district originally adopted a $4,000,000 deficit, increased that to $13,000,000 through amendments, and ultimately realized about a $5,500,000 deficit for the year. Garcia told trustees there was roughly $6,000,000 in reimbursement related to a CECO loan "in transit" that, if received in time, would have brought the year closer to break-even; he said that reimbursement was expected to be reflected in fiscal 2025. Garcia reported no material weaknesses in internal control.

The board then heard a presentation on Barber Middle School's targeted improvement plan. Dr. Pack and Dr. Knofsinger introduced the agenda item and said Barber Middle School had been labeled under federal accountability as needing comprehensive support and improvement. A campus presenter described actions already taken and planned interventions, including a 30-minute schoolwide intervention block called "Gator Grow Time," daily pullout support, tier 2 in-class math support once weekly and reading support twice weekly, use of i-Ready diagnostics and personalized instruction, progress monitoring, and migration of assessments into Eduphoria for better data tracking.

District staff said Barber—s midyear adjustments added a "literacy flight plan" to increase time and opportunities for reading and writing; the district brought in Dr. Smith as an executive principal to help plan instruction and update tier 2 and tier 3 interventions. The campus moved its RLA materials to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt resources aligned to the TEKS and STAR assessments, adopted Eureka math, implemented uninterrupted daily reading (15 minutes in class, 5 minutes at lunch), established small intervention groups of about eight to ten students, required exit tickets for every lesson, and is building classroom libraries. The campus stated action goals for the year: a minimum of 50% of students scoring "meets" or "masters" on STAR Math and RLA; 70% of students showing a school-year's academic growth in math and reading; 50% of emergent bilingual students showing growth in English acquisition; and the campus earning at least 60% of possible STAR performance points.

On the elections item, district staff explained that Galveston County Elections Office will provide election services, judges and clerks for the May 3, 2025 school board election. The board approved the contract for those services.

All formal motions were approved by voice vote and recorded as passing unanimously. Trustees did not receive public comment before those agenda items, according to the meeting record.

The meeting concluded with routine consent items and an adjournment.