The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee voted unanimously on Wednesday, August 9, to recommend that the Austin ISD Trustees support a four penny increase in the local property tax rate only to support the following school district actions:

• Deposit all revenue derived from the four penny increase for the 2006/07 school year into fund balance to maintain the district's AA bond rating and ensure minimally sufficient reserves.
• Spend three of the four penny increase for the 2007/08 school year on a 3% across-the-board compensation and benefits increase.
• Spend the fourth penny, plus potentially available state revenue dedicated for this purpose, for the 2007/08 school year on a "compensation at risk" strategy for principals and teachers recommended by a Chamber task force and approved by the school district trustees and superintendent that supports the district’s strategic plan.
• Participate in Chamber-facilitated shared services discussions with other school districts by December 2006.
• Establish school district college readiness measurement goals, benchmarks and 2007 metrics by December 2006 in the 2005-2010 strategic plan.

Austin ISD’s educators and leadership should be commended for progress to date against academic goals in their strategic plan. According to the Chamber's 2005 Education Progress Report, the district has made "significant learning gains in all performance categories across all student subpopulations over the last few years. Key indicators for employers are high school graduation, completion of a well-rounded course of study, passing rates on TAKS exit tests and college and workplace readiness. These have all improved – in some cases dramatically." The progress report also noted the district's need to accelerate gains in high school completion and college readiness to meet goal.

The Greater Austin Chamber issued its first Austin Independent School District Community Progress Report on December 19, 2005. The progress report evaluated the district’s success with high school completion rates and college/workplace readiness based on data provided from the Texas Education Agency and the Austin Independent School District. The progress report also monitors additional student performance indicators, such as performance on the TAKS tests, which predict early success in elementary and middle school.

“For the Greater Austin region to be a key player in the global economy, most high school students should be ready to enter higher education or the workforce with ‘college ready’ skills in at least math, writing and English/ Language Arts,” said Drew Scheberle, the Chamber’s Vice President of Education and Workforce Development. “Regional economic success will require bringing the vast majority of our students up to this level.”

With the current Austin ISD-proposed budget, these four property tax pennies, and likely available funds from additional sources, Austin ISD should have the financial resources over the next two school years to meet the most important academic components of its strategic plan.