Katy ISD Superintendent Ken Gregorski discussed the state of the district during an early-morning presentation at the Merrell Center last Friday. During his presentation, Gregorski highlighted the challenges and accomplishments the district has faced during the last 19 months of the pandemic and lauded faculty and staff for their efforts.

“I continue to be in awe of the work our teachers, support staff, administrators, technology group, and operations team have performed over the past 19 months to ensure our students could safely learn, engage, and grow,” said Gregorski.

Among the challenges, Gregorski noted the difficulties the district faced in establishing the Katy Virtual Academy during the 2020-21 school year and carrying it into the first six weeks of the fall semester. While overall, he considered the KVA program a success for both years, he noted that staffing shortages and budget challenges forced the district to eliminate the program for the second portion of the fall semester. The fall program was only offered to kindergarten through sixth grades because those students, for the most part, were ineligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

According to KISD statistics, only about 3,500 students of the district’s roughly 88,000 students participated in KVA this fall.

Gregorski acknowledged that the pandemic was a challenge for students as much as teachers and said the district was working hard to utilize federal funding through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Act – often referred to as ESSER funds – to address the problem. While learning loss measured through standardized testing was less in KISD than the state average, it was still a concern he said. Statewide, math scores dropped an average of 4% while KISD scores only dropped 2%. In Reading, there was a more remarkable difference with the state average at 15% and KISD at only 9%, he said.

The district is also working to ensure it can accommodate anticipated growth, Gregorski said.

Population and Survey Analysts – also known as PASA – is the district’s consultant to help it monitor incoming growth. Recently projected enrollments from PASA indicate that the roughly 88,000 students of 2021 should grow to nearly 107,000 by 2029.

To meet this growth, Gregorski said the district had worked with the community to develop a bond proposition in the spring which had subsequently been passed by voters. According to district documentation, the 2021 bond, which is worth about $676.2 million will fund multiple improvements across the district.

“That bond includes five new schools, seven major campus renovations and/or expansions, safety and security improvements, buses, building component replacements, classroom technology, and campus athletic facility improvements,” Gregorski said.

Among its other accomplishments, Gregorski said the district had maintained an A rating from the Texas Education Agency, had been named the number one district in Greater Houston by Niche, received an A rating for the 19th consecutive year from the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas and was ranked by Forbes as the eighth-best employer in Texas for 2021 – the only school district to make the list.

“By all accountings, Katy ISD is a destination district,” he concluded. “Katy ISD parent groups, business partners, community leaders, and staff are some of the most exceptionally talented and dedicated people I’ve had the opportunity to work and live alongside, and I am so proud to be part of this Katy community. We are committed to our mission and will always strive to improve.”