Superintendent cites charter renewal and student gains, urges state funding changes to help high‑poverty schools

Superintendent Dyer used his report to summarize academic results, program plans and legislative priorities, telling the board the district's charter was renewed after state review and that the district has seen measurable content‑mastery gains across grade bands.

"Our content mastery increased overall by 8.6 points — 3.9 in middle school and 11.7 in high school," Dyer said, citing district performance that the state review used when placing the charter renewal on the consent agenda. He described the governor's BDRs analysis (a measure that compares schools to statistical expectations) and said the district now has a larger share of schools "beating the odds."

Dyer announced the district's plan to open an Office of Student Career Services to coordinate dual‑enrollment, career and work‑based learning and to connect students to internships and employers. He said the office will centralize efforts already underway in CTAE and related programs and be led under the deputy superintendent.

On the legislative front, Dyer reviewed special session outcomes and missed opportunities. He said a pilot 5% above‑base funding for high‑poverty schools was a short‑term start but not sufficient and urged a sustainable, formula‑based poverty weight. He also noted a property‑tax relief package did not include school systems and that the district would continue to advocate for changes that support high‑poverty students.

Dyer presented results from a locally funded, targeted four‑year investment in three high‑poverty elementary schools, reporting large gains in content mastery and literacy at Alice Coachman, Robert Harvey and Turner Elementary that he described as evidence that strategic investments can change outcomes in high‑poverty settings.

He closed by noting organizational restructuring plans tied to strategic priorities and by encouraging continued advocacy with state legislators on the funding formula and other priorities. The board agreed to consider the attendance and climate protocol for adoption and later moved into executive session to discuss personnel and superintendent evaluation.