Cedar Hill ISD Highy Rated in Texas Comptroller School Study

Dec. 8, 2010 - PRLog -- Cedar Hill, TX. – November 8, 2010 – The Cedar Hill Independent School district was one of the highest rated school districts listed in the newly unveiled website by Texas Comptroller Susan Combs.  Today Ms. Combs released her landmark Financial Allocation Study for Texas (FAST) report called, Connecting the Dots: School Spending and Student Progress, during a press conference at the University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson, Texas.

The report and website www.FASTexas.org includes a unique rating system for all school districts, measuring student performance relative to district spending.  The study offers recommendations and smart practices for school districts looking to trim their spending.

During the press conference Texas Comptroller Susan Combs said, “We are pleased to have Horace Williams, Superintendent of the Cedar Hill Independent School District here.  The school district has done a phenomenal job and we congratulate you.  The school district saved $1 million dollars by jointly building a government center with the City of Cedar Hill.  The school district also saves $50-thousand annually in operating costs because they share the building."

This has been a decade long journey for the Cedar Hill School District.  During the 1999-2000 school year CHISD had a budget deficit of $2.7 million dollars.  Now the school district has a $56.3 million dollar balanced budget and a 27 percent fund balance of $15.3 million dollars.  It has an AA- financial bond rating from Standard and Poor’s. CHISD has implemented some 26 programs or practices during the past four years that have produced an annal savings of more than $2.3 million a year.

In the 2006-2007 school year CHISD had 2 exemplary schools, 3 recognized schools, 7 acceptable schools and 1 unacceptable school.  In 2010, the school district has 3 exemplary schools, 7 recognized schools and 4 acceptable schools.  The school district meets federal Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) standards.

“We are happy that the taxpayers know that we are spending their tax dollars wisely while taking the education of our children seriously,” said Horace Williams, Superintendent of the Cedar Hill Independent School District.  “This is part of our effort to become a world-class district and to have premier schools of choice.”

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The Cedar Hill Independent School District has 8200 students. CHISDt has three Exemplary schools, seven Recognized schools and four Academically Acceptable schools. It has an AA- financial bond rating from Standard and Poor’s.