Royal ISD approves two-year demographic study agreement with PASA

The Royal ISD Board of Trustees authorized the superintendent to negotiate and execute a two-year demographic study agreement with PASA to complete an updated demographic study for the district. Trustee Cori Vahalik moved the authorization and Trustee Jimmy Meader seconded; the motion passed with a recorded nay from Elton Foster and yes votes from the other trustees.

Administrators and trustees discussed vendor differences. Dr. Pape said she has experience with Zonda but preferred PASA because PASA "provided a more detailed report" and had conducted the district's previous study. Mr. Grom said PASA offers "more rigor and is more scientific than Zonda," and Ms. Vahalik noted PASA was "in the community and performed an intense study." Trustee Elton Foster disagreed, saying he "does not feel PASA engaged the entire community and feels that they didn’t fully investigate." The board also discussed cost-efficiency from a two-year term and whether a yearly update was desired.

The motion authorizes administration to proceed with PASA on a two-year engagement intended to lock in price and allow the district to be scheduled on PASA's regular timeline. The minutes do not list the contract dollar amount; the board discussed tradeoffs between annual updates and a multiyear agreement.