Howdy!! I hope everyone enjoyed the transition from summer to winter, because fall only visited for a week unfortunately. We are about three months into the school year and things are going great! We have the best kids at Fruitvale ISD and they are extremely successful in so many areas. We are in full swing in our ag program with animal shows, LDE contest and more. The construction of the CATE facility 4 years ago has made such a difference in our program, allowing us to continue to recruit strong teachers to our district and implement great programs for our kids. I want to thank each of you in our community for investing in our kids and this program. Our Volleyball team made it to the playoffs again this year, Go Lady Cats!

     Our Fruitvale ISD school board has continued to work hard to improve our school district. A great school district improves property values for our community members and our board is serious about the success of our district. This summer we continued to remodel the elementary facility with all new floors, roof repairs, sealing and paint. It looks amazing and is great for our kids. The cafeteria also was repainted and redesigned; if you haven’t seen it come look, it is so nice. The district also applied for and received a grant for $67,000 for a new serving line to be installed over Christmas break. We have also just applied and received a $25,000 grant to upgrade security features.

     Academically, we are improving programs available to our students. We applied for and received a planning grant last year for $50,000 for the Industry Cluster Innovative Academy program, and this year were selected for the full grant of $200,000 to fully implement this program for students to receive either an Associate’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology at no cost to them or their families, or to go a career pathway with options for 5 or more certificates to take straight into the workforce upon graduation. This is in addition to our T-STEM designation in which our students may take 30 hours college credit at no cost to their family. Our Veterinary Tech program also offers students the ability to obtain a certification prior to graduation. We work hard to pull in state funding through grants for our district.

     Our school board put out multiple surveys in the spring about our district facilities. According to the staff survey, the parent survey and the community survey the number one facility we need is a gymnasium because of the condition of the old gymnasium, the second was the head start facility, which we removed students from this summer and made into storage. The third facility was the administration building. The board spent last spring looking at the cost of a remodel of the old gym and it was extremely expensive, to the point from the four construction companies that came out, it would be cheaper to build a new one than remodel what we have into a usable facility. The ceiling height does not meet UIL standards for Volleyball and would have to be raised, the basketball floor length is not close to the appropriate length for UIL basket-ball games to be held on it, and the entire facility would have to be upgraded to meet the 2006 building code standards if we had to remodel, and this would still not provide additional seating. We really looked for ways to get what we needed with a remodel.

     I have been in this position for almost 5 years and each year we have put money into fund balance to save for our district needs, while still making great improvements in our facilities district wide. The board prioritized putting a large sum of additional money into our fund balance this year for future construction projects. The board continues to monitor state funding, our fund balance and options to meet the needs of our students.

     I invite all staff, parents, and community members to come and look at our current facilities and provide input to myself and the board as we consider ways to fund district facility needs. We are working hard to provide our students with what they need to be successful. Our kids deserve the best.

     I want to remind each of you to get registered to vote in all elections. We have important ones for our nation, state, county, city and school. This past state election we were able to get state leaders in place who support our public schools and rural communities. One of the important things that happened for taxpayers was a tax compression that reduced your tax rate 6 cents in the Fruitvale community. The tax rate will be compressed again in the upcoming school year. It reduces funding for the school, but does put money back in taxpayers’ pockets. Schools also received an increase in funding this past year, with a large portion going to salary increases for instructional staff. Currently, it is difficult to find teacher applicants in every school district, but in a rural area it is really tough. The state is looking for ways to increase interest in individuals wanting to go into education, so they raised the state minimum salary for teachers and counselors. We need to continue that work, and we need your support. If you have any concerns or questions please let us know. We appreciate your support of Fruitvale ISD.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Bain

Superintendent