San Marcos Mercury | Local News from San Marcos and Hays County, Texas
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January 15th, 2008
Paper Trail: San Marcos, Hays CISDs standardized test scores comparison

From staff reports

When a group of San Marcos teachers argued for a little larger pay raise at a budget hearing this summer, comparisons to more affluent neighboring school districts kept coming up — especially Hays Consolidated Independent School district which encompasses the Kyle and Buda areas.

“After their first year, we lose a lot of good teachers to school districts that pay more. When you consider the amount we’re losing in training, it makes sense to stay competitive,” said Grace Mueller, an eighth grade language arts teacher at Miller Junior High who is the Texas Classroom Teachers Association president.

Even school board member Lupe Costilla chimed in with a correlation between San Marcos CISD’s retention rates and Hays CISD’s teacher recruiting. “I talked to an administrator from Hays CISD the other day who said ‘Y’all train the teachers and then we hire them away.”

No one seemed to question the premise that Hays has at least the perception of generally better schools than San Marcos and that teacher pay has something to do with it. But recently released group scores for 2007 sittings of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills show San Marcos students consistently competitive with Hays across different grade levels and subject areas.

— AMANDA OSKEY and BRAD ROLLINS

DOWNLOADS

Superintendent Patty Shafer’s comparative presentation for the P-16 council, a task force of community members and educators evaluating local education on a number of levels. Download»

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One thought on “Paper Trail: San Marcos, Hays CISDs standardized test scores comparison”

  1. The report is more telling when you look at each grade level and see how bad it gets by the time the kids are in high school.

    Frankly, neither district looks like anything we should aspire to, if we want to grow this city the right way.

    Look at Wimberley’s numbers, if you want an eye-opener. They blow us out of the water. I believe they pay less, too.

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