August 15, 2025
Dear AHISD Families-
Welcome to the 2025-26 school year! There’s truly nothing like the excitement and energy of the first day of school — walking into our buildings and seeing the halls come alive with the smiles of students and teachers fills my heart with joy and hope for the year ahead.
Thank you for entrusting us with your most special gifts - your children! Our staff opened their hearts to 4,619 students on Wednesday, and I want to assure you that we are ready to nurture, support and challenge their growth!
Last week we gathered at The Junior School for our annual District Convocation, bringing together all AHISD staff to kick off the year with spirit and inspiration. This year’s theme focuses on
everyday heroes and celebrates the strength and dedication of everyone in our district—from teachers and staff to students. When we show up for each other and stand together, we are a stronger community and school district.
Technology Updates
Through collaborative efforts with parents, teachers and administrators, we finalized pieces of our technology handbook to publish as a communication tool for our community about our beliefs, our practices, and our systems. You can view the AHISD Technology Handbook on the
AHISD Technology Department web page. In AHISD, we believe that technology should enhance- rather than replace- critical thinking, creativity and collaboration. We promote a balanced approach that combines digital learning with paper-pencil and hands on experiences to support a variety of learning styles. Included in our Technology Handbook, we have recently published our
expectations for screen time and non-negotiables for best practices utilizing technology as a tool for instruction. This includes an overview of the high-quality instructional materials used in our classrooms. Your teachers will be communicating more about their use of technology in the next couple weeks!
Bond Updates
It has been a busy summer of construction here in AHISD as we now have multiple projects ongoing in multiple locations. We are officially through the halfway mark of construction of the new academic wings at AHHS and our Visitor Bleachers Complex at Orem Stadium is almost complete and will be ready to welcome visitors at our first home game.
Construction began at Cambridge and Woodridge this summer and I’m excited that classroom refreshes were completed for some grade levels already. We appreciate the flexibility of our staff and families as they have adjusted to changes on these campuses and ongoing work this school year.
Please watch my first edition of the On Location video series this year which highlights the transformation to classrooms at Cambridge. Work also continues at the Robbins Athletic Complex and we are excited for a new softball field in 2026.
We want to keep our families and community informed about the progress of Bond 2023 projects. As a reminder, in addition to my monthly messages, social media posts, and updates at Board Meetings, we also have the
Bond 2023 Construction Updates website.
Community Based Accountability
Today the state is releasing the latest A-F ratings for school districts based almost exclusively on the STAAR test. In AHISD, we believe our students are so much more than one test score on one day, and therefore, have designed our own local Community Based Accountability System that measures outcomes across seven different pillars. Our community deserves accountability for robust outcomes for our students that includes data points like SAT/ ACT achievement, AP Scholar numbers and MAP growth progress, as well as the community feedback we gather from you all in our Feedback February surveys.
The seven pillars of our CBAS holds us accountable to:
Student Learning and Progress
Student Readiness
Student Wellbeing and Safety
Engaged, Well-rounded Students
Community Engagement
Professional Learning and Quality Staff
Fiscal and Operational Systems
Please take some time to read our latest CBAS report that outlines some accomplishments and areas of focus for this next school year.
89th Legislative Session
The 89th Texas Legislature delivered what lawmakers hailed as a historic investment in public education, approving House Bill 2 (HB 2)—an $8.5 billion funding package directed toward teacher and support staff compensation, special education, campus safety, early education, and other critical areas. A new funding measure, the Teacher Retention Allotment (TRA) was created and will provide salary boosts to AHISD teachers who have 3 or more years teaching experience.
Despite this influx of targeted funding, the session failed to deliver a meaningful increase to the “basic allotment”, which is the core per-student funding formula that districts rely on for general expenses. Public schools across the state advocated for a $1,350 increase to the basic allotment to meet the inflationary costs of operations since it was adjusted last in 2019. Only a modest $55 per student was added which is insufficient in helping our district meet the rising costs of operations, and does not provide funding for salary increases for all other district employees not covered through the TRA.
Fortunately, we prepared for this disappointment through a proactive, semester long community advisory process last fall. The approved 25-26 budget includes $4 million of cuts in operating costs that include multiple positions and programs.
Districts across the state will continue to grapple with tight budgets and inflexible spending due to decisions made by the state this session. I continue to be so grateful for the incredible support of Alamo Heights School Foundation that donated $2 million to AHISD for this year’s budget. With the lack of public school champions in state leadership, it is clear that our community is the solution to adequately funding our schools.
We’re off to a great start to the year! I’m grateful for all our AHISD families and the way you’re already connecting with us in meaningful partnerships on this journey.