Katy Independent School District board meeting, Jan 20, 2026
2 h 03 min · 7 public speakers
This board doesn’t post agenda times. Click a board member to jump to where they first speak; we list only members whose voice our check named. Video length 2 h 03 min.
- Who spoke · first speaks at
- Lance RedmonPresident
- Dawn ChampagneVice-President
- Rebecca FoxMember
What happened
What happened at this meeting
Katy ISD board approves 2026-2027 instructional calendar with Option C 1:53:34
- District fine arts staff gave an update on music programs, and speakers at public comment raised school lunches and employee health benefits. 35:22
- Before the calendar votes, the superintendent said a 238-day employee under the proposed calendar with a fall break would have to find 7 additional days to work. 1:34:09
Item by item (11)
- Opening, pledges and national anthem 0:05
- Lance Redmon called the meeting to order at 5:02 PM and said a quorum was present. 0:05
- A student led the pledges, and a Katy High School saxophone quartet was introduced to perform the national anthem. 1:35
- Dawn Champagne said they were an alto saxophone player and thanked the quartet for being there. 9:40
- Recognitions 10:21
- City of Katy officials read a proclamation declaring January 2026 as School Board Recognition Month in the City of Katy. 10:40
- The president of the district's council of PTAs said local PTA units donated books to campus libraries in the trustees' names. 17:06
- A district staff member recognized the 30th anniversary of the Keys program, which began in the 1995-96 school year with 4 mentors and now engages more than 650 mentors. 25:40
- Music program update 32:09
- Lance Redmon said the board would move the music program presentation ahead of public comment. 34:44
- A fine arts staff member said total music enrollment in grades K through 12 is over 56,000 students. 35:22
- A staff member said Katy ISD music students scored 174 points above the national SAT average and 236 points above the Texas average. 46:44
- Public comment 1:02:28
- A speaker on an agenda item asked the board to vote yes on the calendars for the next two years. 1:02:28
- Speakers on non-agenda topics raised school lunch nutrition and new federal dietary guidelines, communication from campus administration, and employee health benefits. 1:08:18
- Several speakers at public comment raised wages for paraprofessionals. 1:17:54
- Annual report and public hearing 1:24:11
- A district staff member presented the annual report for the 2024-25 school year and said the Texas Academic Performance Report is the largest of 8 major components. 1:25:38
- A speaker asked whether criminal and violent incidents are recorded publicly in the report, and a staff member said they can be seen but are masked when a campus would be less than 10 or could be identified by a small number. 1:29:33
- No one signed up to speak at the public hearing. 1:30:30
- Consent agenda 1:30:30
- Instructional calendar and employee workdays 1:32:53
- The superintendent said employees paid for 238 days must work 238 days, and that options to do so include working on non-instructional days, comp time, vacation days or personal days. 1:34:09
- A district staff member said about 425 professional positions and about 425 to 435 hourly employees are on 238-day calendars, and that instructional paraprofessionals are on a 187-day calendar. 1:45:15
- Dawn Champagne said the fall break added only 2 extra days and that other calendar changes also contributed to the 7 days. 1:51:43
- Rebecca Fox moved to approve the calendar as presented, and the motion passed 7 to 0. 1:52:56
- 2026-2027 instructional calendar 1:53:25
- Interior lighting upgrades 1:53:49
- A speaker said the interior lighting had a $4.2 million projected cost and would be paid from the TERS waterfall fund, which the speaker said has a balance of $17 million. 1:54:29
- Rebecca Fox said the fund will not be added to and can only be spent on capital projects within its boundary. 1:56:20
- Dawn Champagne moved to approve the interior lighting upgrades at the Education Support Complex and Leonard E. Merrill Center. 1:56:42
- The motion passed 7-0. 1:57:08
- Electronic display board replacement 1:56:52
- Committee updates and information requests 1:57:28
- A finance committee member said the committee is beginning discussions on balancing the budget. 1:58:23
- Rebecca Fox said the academic committee reviewed data and the presentation from the work-study meeting. 1:58:45
- A board member requested current information on the district's relationship and contractual ties to Ariat Public Affairs. 2:00:15
Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.
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