The planning never ends around Aledo. For all that is achieved in this community and especially around the Aledo school district, the opportunities to slow down to relish the moment are few and far between.
That fact is not lost on the Aledo Board of Trustees, as the panel voted to officially pass the instructional calendar for the 2025-26 school year as part of their monthly agenda during the February meeting on Monday, the 17.
The calendar for 2025-26 school year will look very similar to the 2024-25 calendar. This year school started on August 14 and will run until May 22. The calendar will begin and end a day earlier in 2025-26. August 13, 2025 will be the first day of the school year. The fourth quarter grading cycle will conclude on May 21, 2026.
With the 2025 Texas State Legislative session officially underway in Austin, several members of the Board of Trustees went to Austin on Tuesday, Feb. 18, to speak with local legislators along with anyone who would listen to the plight of public schools across the state thanks to that body.
For nearly a decade districts across the Lone Star State have made do with the same level of funding the Legislature approved in 2017. During the 2023 session, the Legislature earmarked between $6-$8 billion of the $38 billion surplus to go to increasing funding for public education. However, gridlock at the Capitol kept funds tied up in Austin for the past two years, forcing districts to either take on debt for the first time or go deeper in debt to deal with budgetary shortfalls.
“There’s a lot of funding formular that the legislature comes up with that determines how much money flows into Aledo ISD and school districts across Texas,” Trustee David Lear said during Monday’s meeting. “There’s lots of mandates. Sometimes the funding doesn’t match. In our school district, we are $2 million underfunded for special education requirements. We are $3.3 million underfunded for transportation requirements. We are almost $1 million underfunded for safety and security. At the federal and state level, we have lots of requirements to meet, and we have to use $6 million from our budget that could be otherwise allocated to classrooms or programs to fulfill these requirements.”
Lear went on to say that the Trustees will advocate for adequate funding increases to allow school districts to fulfill all the mandates and for more local control over education so that decisions around what is best for Aledo come from Aledo, rather than mandates made in Austin.
Aledo ISD continues to chip away at the recommendations the Aledo Growth Committee made leading up to the 2023 bond that was passed by voters. The new Ag Barn at the high school is expected to be move-in ready next week. Construction of the Steve Wood Complex remains on schedule. Barring any unforeseen setbacks like weather, construction should wrap up at the end of March.
The district announced more good news with the acquisition of two new parcels of land. A 40-acre site and 12-acre site will be used to construct future school buildings as the district continues to grow.
Aledo ISD procured the new parcels of land at no cost to the district. The 12-acre plot was donated by Parker County Emergency Services District One. Meanwhile, the 40-acres were part of a swap between the district and the City of Willow Park. Willow Park plans to use the land it received in the trade for an easement.
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