CHRISTOVAL — Christoval ISD voted unanimously to adopt a resolution in support of Texas Senate Bill 11 during their regular board meeting Wednesday night. The bill required all school districts to weigh in on the bill, which provides special protections for prayer in public schools.
Board members discussed what possible implementation would look like and dedicated time in the mornings before class for students who wished to pray and had parental consent agreements.
Emphasizing the measure would be completely voluntary, the resolution may be brought up in the future for amendment, or to be struck down if legal concerns arise.
A few spoke to the CISD board during public comments, but only one addressed the school prayer issue directly saying it was “a conflict of church and state.”
In Other Business
The board also heard criticism about the administrations lack of transparency and communication, citing the lack of a formal grievance form on the school’s website.
The main public complaint against the school board was based on an incident wherein a young elementary aged student was left on a school bus, and was not discovered until late into the evening, and the bus driver had to take the child home with him. The apparent guardian of the child spoke first, recounting the incident. This happened twice over a five-month period, according to the allegation.
Another parent of the school who said her children no longer attend CISD, corroborated the testimony, saying that the issue of school bus policy has been brought up before the board in 2023, where two parents spoke on the issue and need for formal policy changes.
“When I spoke to the superintendent about it, he said ‘I’m just going to fire whoever is responsible’…continuing to fire people is not the solution.” She said.
“A six-year-old was taken to a different town and forgotten about on a bus…some parents laughed at it.”
The final public comment addressed lack of humanities, science, and arts programs at the school, saying “If kids aren’t involved in athletics or ag[riculture], there is nothing for those kids at Christoval ISD.”
The board then resumed with normal business.
Tax rate of 1.0759 was adopted along with the 2025-26 school year budget of $10,900,000. The district currently has an enrollment of 631, up slightly from last year.
An update on bond construction was presented to the board. And a new budget amendment proposed to direct funds to cafeterias to address a shortage in spending, and to avoid any shortages that might come up in future.
Expenditures for August were up slightly which was attributed to double staffing while transitioning between new principals, teacher pay raises, unexpected spending at the beginning of the school year.
