Additional Missed School Day Waivers related to Hurricane Harvey
September 1, 2017
TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED:
Subject: Additional Missed School Day Waivers related to Hurricane Harvey
Many school districts and charter schools continue to deal with the impact of Hurricane Harvey and are still in the process of assessing the extent of that impact; consequently, districts and charter schools in the 58-county disaster declaration area closed due to the hurricane are eligible to apply for a Missed School Day waiver for up to four additional days as needed for any scheduled instructional days missed from Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2017, to Friday, Sept. 8, 2017.
The health, safety and welfare of the students, teachers, and staff of these effected school districts and charter schools is my priority. While these additional days may not resolve all issues, it is my hope that this additional time will allow school districts and charter schools to address and remediate the damage and reopen by Monday, Sept. 11, 2017.
As previously stated in the Aug. 29, 2017, To The Administrator Addressed correspondence on hurricane related waivers, the 58 counties that fall within Gov. Greg Abbott’s disaster proclamation include: Angelina, Aransas, Atascosa, Austin, Bastrop, Bee, Bexar, Brazoria, Brazos, Burleson, Caldwell, Calhoun, Cameron, Chambers, Colorado, Comal, DeWitt, Fayette, Fort Bend, Galveston, Goliad, Gonzales, Grimes, Guadalupe, Hardin, Harris, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jim Wells, Karnes, Kerr, Kleberg, Lavaca, Lee, Leon, Liberty, Live Oak, Madison, Matagorda, Montgomery, Newton, Nueces, Orange, Polk, Refugio, Sabine, San Jacinto, San Patricio, Trinity, Tyler, Victoria, Walker, Waller, Washington, Wharton, Willacy and Wilson.
Districts and charter schools requesting this waiver will need to apply for the Missed School Day waiver using the TEAL waiver application that is currently used to apply for state waivers. As a result of this waiver, school systems in disaster counties that have missed school days as referenced above due to the hurricane will not have to make up those days on the school calendar.
Each Missed School Day waiver is worth the number of operational minutes for that day on the school’s calendar up to 420 waiver minutes per day. Therefore, if a district or charter school has a longer operational day, they may need to use additional minutes or days built into the calendar, or add minutes as needed by the end of the school year to ensure it meets the 75,600-operational minute requirement.
School systems in disaster counties that anticipate missing additional school days due to the hurricane beyond Sept. 8, 2017, should contact the Texas Education Agency individually to discuss available options. Questions related to waivers should be directed to Leah Martin and Ron Rowell, at (512) 463-5899 or at Leah.Martin@tea.texas.gov or Ronald.Rowell@tea.texas.gov.
Sincerely,
Mike Morath
Commissioner