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Alief ISD expands STEM and performing‑arts choice programs, points to enrollment and pay gains
Summary
Superintendent Dr. Anthony Mays said ALIEF ISD used family surveys and a strategic plan to expand choice programming (STEM and a performing/visual arts academy), boost teacher compensation to top‑three levels, add summer and athletic offerings, and increase counseling and scholarship supports; the district promoted several July/August enrollment events.
ALIEF ISD Superintendent Dr. Anthony Mays said the district has expanded in‑district choice offerings—particularly STEM and performing/visual‑arts pathways—to give families earlier access and to reverse declining enrollment at some campuses.
“Through that process, we were able to have some things come out,” Mays said, describing a needs assessment based on conversations with families who stayed and families who left. He said the district wanted a "clear through line" so students access fine arts and STEM from elementary through high school rather than waiting until high school.
Mays credited a recently passed local measure with improving the district’s finances and said that has allowed ALIEF ISD to restore teacher compensation to a top‑three position in the state ranking the district uses for comparison. “We’ve moved back up into the top three as far as compensation,” he said.
The district is adding specific campus‑level options that the host identified as Reese Elementary’s performing and visual arts academy, Miller Intermediate and STEM‑focused campuses; the recording named other campuses and programs that were not fully clear in audio. Mays said the Reese program correlated with improved academic performance and helped draw families back to that campus.
Mays also described nonacademic supports and extracurricular expansions: Summerfest and the Alief Athletic League were launched as responses to parent feedback about lost sports and summertime opportunities. He noted growth in counseling and mental‑health supports and said a record number of scholarships were earned districtwide after staff encouraged students to apply.
The podcast host closed by listing enrollment resources and outreach: the enrollment website (www.aliefisd.net/enroll), enrollment events on July 26 (including a Hope Clinic session and a Plaza Americas outreach), an August 2 health and resource fair, and the district’s first day of school on August 12.
Mays said the district will continue listening sessions and community outreach as it phases in programs; detailed timelines, capacities and formal board approvals for the new or expanded programs were not specified in the recording.
