-
During the 2020-21 school year, the Marble Falls truancy court, in which Pounds oversees, filed 111 cases on truant conduct charges. In those cases, 175 parents were filed for “parent contributing” charges. Contributed
The local school district and Marble Falls City Council agreed to partner June 15 to fund a full-time truancy court case manager with city staff reaching out to the county and other municipalities to contribute funds in the future.
“One of the things we discussed previously was the opportunity to capture some funding out there associated with fees related to this activity,” Marble Falls City Manager Mike Hodge said. “I’ve had a conversation with all of those entities.
“There’s an interest in sharing some of the revenues that they receive.”
Mayor Richard Westerman added, “From my perspective, I’d like us to go ahead and approve this action item and instruct staff to continue working on putting together inter-local agreements and getting the concerning areas to participate when possible, where ever possible.”
Without discussion or questions, the council voted unanimously to fund the position which would cost approximately $55,000 for the first year.
Marble Falls ISD Superintendent Chris Allen, who was in attendance, thanked the council.
Allen and Marble Falls Municipal Judge Cheryl Pounds, who was also in attendance, granted The Highlander an interview outside of the meeting following the vote.
Allen offered insight into the necessity, history and evolution of funding for the juvenile case manager.
“We saw the benefit of that to both the city and the school district, and we’re willing to work with the city to come up with an agreement where no one had to carry the burden of that independently,” he said. “The first year would be funded 100 percent-ish by the city; second year would be a 50-50 split; the third year, the district would assume the cost of the position.”
The “ish” involves the timing of the hire, he explained, which coincides with the municipality’s next fiscal year budget cycle which starts Oct. 1. School district funding will pay the portion of the new hire’s salary from the date of hire to the start of the city’s fiscal year. The municipality will be responsible for filling the position.
“This is a city employee, so that’s driven by the city,” Allen said. “Once we get the MOU (memorandum of understanding) signed, the city will pick the ball up and run from there.
“I do think there are some strong candidates who’ve already expressed interest in the position based on some of the discussion that has occurred publicly,” he added.
In 2011, the position was created and funded by the city of Marble Falls at $12,000 in a part-time capacity, Pounds explained. The city soon ap proached the school district, who accepted the request, to start funding the part-time position in an inter-local agreement.
“When the juvenile case manager position was first approved by the city of Marble Falls. It was all city funded as a part-time position,” she said. “Our case load has increased. Of course, with COVID, it increased.”
An individual currently in the position is retiring, which necessitated the ask to refill the position at a full-time rate.
“She had been claiming part-time,” Pounds said. “She has gone above and beyond in so many aspects, but our parttime position has been (treated as) full-time (without pay for additional work) for the past three years.”
During the 2020-21 school year, the Marble Falls truancy court, in which Pounds oversees, filed 111 cases on truant conduct charges. In those cases, 175 parents were filed for “parent contributing” charges.
Proof of the efficacy of the position involved the number of students, 55 of them, who graduated attributed to the work of the truancy case manager.
“We’re getting these kids into school, getting their education. So many of these kids are in other trouble mostly with their parents,” Pounds said. “A lot of them are orphans with parents in jail, drug addiction; they’re staying with grandparents; a lot of them are single families, single parents – just broken homes and these kids are getting lost in the mix,” she said.
Allen added, “As often as is possible, when the school district can work with any of our local communities to do things that are best for the families and the students, the benefit to our entire regional area is obvious.
“You have better educated students, who are in school, doing the things there supposed to do and then they graduate, able to contribute to the economy and not drawdown resources from the city with regard to what the cities are having to do to maintain these students.”
According to records from the 2020-21 school year, approximately 37.8 percent of the students in truancy cases resided in Marble Falls; 18 percent were from Granite Shoals; 35.1 percent resided in the unincorporated areas of the county. The remaining students resided in Cottonwood Shores, Meadowlakes and Kingsland.
The vast majority of truants are eighth- through ninth-grade.
During the meeting, Hodge updated the council on his effort to research and track down truancy fees collected by courts in the county.
“When you look across the county at those courts that collect those fees, we’re probably at about $10,000,” Hodge said. “The conversation that I had with Burnet County is that the fee they collect goes toward a juvenile case manager that they employ for Burnet Consolidated Independent School District.
“We’ve got to work through that process, and there’s a lot to it.”