Dear Vega ISD Community,
This week continues with STAAR testing for Math (STAAR grades 3-8 & EOC Algebra 1), Science (STAAR grades 5 & 8 & EOC Biology), and Social Studies (STAAR grade 8 & EOC US History). The End of Course (EOC) STAAR exams are partial graduation requirements for high school students. In between the STAAR tests this week many of our students are also taking class field trips. The PreK, Kindergarten, and 1st grade classes are taking a field trip to the Clovis Zoo. Our 10th grade students are taking a field trip to the Panhandle Museum at West Texas A&M University.
Congratulations are in store for our Vega student athletes after another successful week. Our boys and girls golf teams both competed at the Regional Golf Meet this past week. Maigyn Ellis was the Girls Golf Region Silver Medalist and qualified for the State Golf Meet. We had several tracksters compete at the Regional Track Meet in Canyon last week as well and all of our students made improvements on their events. We are really proud of all of our teams for a great season. Diego Martinez was the 110M Hurdles Regional Champion and Jaz Martinez was the Girls High Jump Silver Medalist and they both qualified for the State Track Meet. Diego and Jaz also won bronze medals in other events as well. Our junior high tennis doubles team won first place at the district tennis tournament this past weekend. Our Varsity tennis teams also got in some more practice at a Regional Qualifier tournament in Amarillo as they prepare for their upcoming Regional Tournament next week. Please check out our district webpage and Facebook page for pictures and more information.
Be sure to wish our District Champion UIL Academic Team good luck this Friday as they compete at the Regional Academic Meet in Canyon. This Friday is the PreKindergarten and Kindergarten Round Up. Our elementary school is super excited to meet and greet our new students for next school year!
Thanks to everyone who completed the stakeholder survey. We have been sharing the trends we received from the different questions on the survey. This week we will look at the question: What support or additional resources do you need to be successful? The top response we received was: “I don’t need anything. I have what I need.” Other responses we received were: band director/music for elementary, pay increases, special education training, and community child care providers. Some of these needs are areas in which we have direct control over (such as band director/music for elementary, special education training). We have hired a new band director/music teacher for elementary and have scheduled special education training for August teacher in-service. And some of these needs are areas in which we don’t have direct control over (such as pay increases, community child care providers), but it is helpful to understand our stakeholder’s needs so we can be in a better position to meet those needs when the opportunity presents itself. During this past legislative session, there was no increase in funding provided for public schools or for teacher salaries because school vouchers were not approved. Over the past two months our district has collaborated with an internal teacher stakeholder committee to develop and submit an application to TEA for the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA). While it would be the summer of 2026 before any allotment designations would be awarded, TIA is the only mechanism the state currently provides for districts to access additional compensation that does not come out of the district’s budget. We will find out by August if our application was approved by TEA.
As you know, our district has kicked off a transfer campaign on our website and social media in order to increase our student enrollment. An increase of 25 students throughout the district (that’s about two students per grade level or about eight families of three school-age children each) would go a long way in reducing our deficit budget. Please note that to be eligible to be accepted as a transfer student to Vega ISD, all students must be in good standing with their current school district, have good attendance, and have no discipline issues. Check out our transfer landing page on the district’s website that talks about our school and how to apply for a transfer. If you feel comfortable doing so, please “like” the social media posts and share them on your own social media pages. If you need any help in doing this, please reach out to our office. We would be glad to help.
More students means more funding from the state. An increase in student enrollment is one of the ways the state allows school districts to gain revenue since there was no increased funding provided for public schools in this past legislative session.
As always, if you have any questions or if we can help in any way, please reach out to your campus principal or to my office.
Thank you,
Jerry Adams
Superintendent
Vega ISD