NEWS
BISD negotiating with 4 districts who pick up transfer students in the district
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
It began as a question as to whether Bowie Independent School District would allow outside districts to come into its attendance zone to pick up students who transfer to those districts; however, it has developed into whether or not a district is willing to compensate BISD for its loss of funding for students.
A debate arose back in January about allowing the districts of Bellevue, Gold-Burg, Forestburg and Montague to come by bus into BISD to pick up and drop off students. When it was questioned, some of the districts moved their pickup points to other areas, but Superintendent Donna Hale said those sites don’t really make a lot difference, although it does not look good for a district to pick up inside BISD possibly near one of its campuses.
The board directed the superintendent to develop memorandums of understandings that could eliminate these questions. The board gave her the authority to negotiate and did not indicate at that time if members wanted to see the agreements before they were finalized.
These issues also were part of earlier conversations by the board about what the district can do to boost enrollment and try to retain some of those students who transfer. Hale said that was one of the first questions the board asked her when she started.
Hale referred to Senate Bill 204 from the 87th Legislature that outlined a stipulation if a district goes into another district, an MOU is required to set the parameters. If an outside district does not have an MOU with the district it would require that district not screen students who apply for transfer regardless of discipline, academics or attendance. In essence it would need to accept all requests based on availability.
The draft of the MOU also would charge a district $1,000 per student who rides a bus from BISD to another district.
Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News.
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
While the budget was the primary topics for the Montague County Commissioners on Aug. 10, there were several other topics handled by the court.
Tax Assessor Collector Kathy Phillips presented the certification of value and rates for the 2026 taxes. The certified net values are $3,017,685,102 with rolling railroad stock at $15,954,716.
The county’s total taxable value is $3,033,639,818. Total appraised is $7,930,674,437, total assessed at $3,629,932,719 and total taxable value of new property at $93,632,505.
Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News.
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewssonline.com
The proposed 2026-27 budget for Montague County was finalized Monday, but not without a few fireworks between the sheriff and county judge.
Sheriff Marshall Thomas said his budget requests for two additional deputies and two jailers may not have been clearly presented to either the court or public. During the July 27 budget workshop, the increase for operational expenses of the sheriff’s office and jail were reviewed, but there was no discussion on the staff requests.
At that meeting Thomas said his staff requests had been taken out by the County Judge Kevin Benton, but afterward the judge emphasized he had met with Thomas about the requests and he knew the staff additions would not be included in the proposal.
On Aug. 10 during the budget workshop, Thomas said he had some questions from constituents and he also thought some of the commissioners were not aware of the requests.
“I asked for two more deputies and we need two jailers. The standard ratio is 2.5 to 2.7 per 1,000 people in the Nortex region, we are at .75 for 938 square miles. We have two jailers in training and two out for months on major medical. The standard is 1:48 inmates. Our comp time is through the roof because in the jail with such short staff others have to come in and cover,” Thomas told the court Monday.
Things only got more intense between the two men as Benton said he felt like he was being accused of keeping information from the court,, while Thomas said he understood the court may not have received the request and citizens have asked him why he did ask for more staff.
Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News.
The board of directors of the Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation District met with the Montague County Commissioner’s Court Monday to present the major proposed rules changes for the district that will be considered at an Aug. 27 board meeting at 5 p.m. at the Springtown office.
Board President Tracy Mesler and Assistant General Manager Kyle Russell explained the proposals that focus on permit allocations for non-exempt wells, hydrogeologic reports for high volume permits, minimum tract size and spacing for new wells. The district addresses groundwater issues in Montague, Wise, Parker and Hood Counties. The public is invited to attend these public meetings and the full agenda is located on the district website at uppertrinitygcd.com.
Read the full story on all the proposed rule changes in Thursday’s Bowie News.
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