Several items were up for discussion and approved by the Lubbock-Cooper Independent School District Board of Trustees, including its $129 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

While the district's 2026-27 budget was the focal point of the trustees' regularly scheduled meeting on June 19, district leaders also approved a few personnel changes, including

This meeting marked the last time Superintendent Keith Bryant, who is set to retire at the end of this month, was to participate in a meeting, as newly hired Superintendent Aaron Waldrip will step into his position.

Here are three other things you need to know from the LCISD school board meeting.

A trustee steps back and a new one is appointed

One of the items that the trustees unanimously agreed to was to accept the resignation of Ursula Caswell, trustee for Place 6.

The reason for Caswell's resignation was not made immediately known. Her term was set to expire in 2026.

However, after thanking Casewell for her service, the trustees unanimously appointed Trey Strong, owner of Trey Strong Custom Homes in Lubbock, to take her seat.

Trustees approve three school budgets totaling $129 million

There are three budgets the trustee approved — its debt service, food and general operation budgets that total $129 million.

While the debt service budget will see an over $475,000 budget surplus, the other two will not.

The general operating budget sees a $5.1 million deficit

Approving to operate in the red next year, trustees approved a $4.8 million increase to Instruction Expenses in the 2026 budget from 2025. This is partially due to House Bill 2 — the teacher pay increase bill.

It also stems from a conversation the trustees had during their Budget Workshop on June 12, during which they consented to giving all staff not covered under the HB2 pay raise and who aren't administrators a 3% pay increase.

Those people include custodians, ground crew members, bus drivers and other employees.

In short, the school district is estimating $84,989,192 in revenue next year — pending property tax evaluations — with $90,123,171 in expenses that would cover everything not related to food or debt services.

"The deficit is not a great position, but I am confident we can get it where we need to be next year," Waldrip said.

Creating a food deficit budget, possibly raising school lunch prices

Assistant Superintendent of Business and Personnel Danny Davis said the district's Food Service Fund will run on a $452,887 budget deficit — but that's on purpose.

The district received over $2 million from a federal government program coming out of the pandemic for the school's food budget. However, schools can only keep three to six months' worth of funds that balance, which prompted the districts to find ways to utilize that money.

Davis said the district opted to feed students for free the past few years, but now the funds are creeping closer to the needed fund balance of $500,000, prompting the district to look at campuses to start charging for lunches again.

The school district is also considering increasing the cost of school lunches from $3.25 to possibly $3.50 for the 2027 school year and adjusting its lunch charging policy for secondary students.

"Everyone knows food costs have gone up tremendously," Davis said.

Possible tax rate increase for the school district?

The trustees approved an item that allows the district to engage in a preliminary study for a Voter Approved Tax Ratification Election — also known as a VATRE.

Davis said the district is leaving three "golden pennies" on the table, which would equate to an additional $4 million in school funding from the state.

In short, the State of Texas allows schools to raise their Maintenance & Operation tax rate up to 17 cents in addition to the tax rate state lawmakers set for M&O.

Of the 17 cents, the first eight cents are considered "golden" as they earn a higher yield in funds matched by the state. Anything past the first eight is subject to state recapture—known as "Robin Hood"—and sees a lower state match.

Of the eight, the board can raise the tax rate by five cents — which is what LCISD is at. The other three cents must go before voters through a VATRE.

Also, M&O helps fund schools' day-to-day operations while the other tax rate — Interest & Sinking (I&S) — can only help fund bonds for district capital projects.

However, the district must complete the efficiency audit for VATRE Consideration before it can decide to send it to voters and also, how much.

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Waldrip currently serves as superintendent of Abernathy ISD, a position he has held since 2019. Before that, he was superintendent at Wellman-Union ISD for three years. His education career spans 18 years, including roles as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, principal, and superintendent.

A graduate of Texas Tech University, Waldrip holds a bachelor’s degree in exercise and sports sciences and a master’s degree in educational leadership. He is a member of the Texas Association of School Administrators and has served on multiple Region 17 education committees. He also completed the Texas LeadRural Fellowship, a program focused on leadership and innovation in small and rural school districts.

Waldrip began his career teaching and coaching at Estacado and Lubbock High Schools, later moving into administration at Brownfield Middle School, where he served as both assistant principal and principal for five years.

Outside of education, Waldrip has been active in youth sports and community programs, including work with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He and his wife, Ashley, have three children who will attend schools in Lubbock-Cooper ISD.

State law requires a 21-day waiting period following the announcement of a lone finalist before a superintendent can be officially hired. Waldrip is expected to assume the role following the retirement of current superintendent Keith Bryant at the end of June.

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Lubbock-Cooper ISD Superintendent Keith Bryant announced on Friday morning his plan to retire following the closing of the 2024-25 school year.

A social media post dedicated Bryant’s time serving Lubbock-Cooper ISD sharing the many accomplishments provided under his supervision.

“When I joined Lubbock-Cooper ISD in August of 2014, I was immediately struck by the warmth, dedication and passion of this community,” Superintendent Bryant shared. He continued to add, We are blessed with incredibly talented and professional teachers and administrators who impact the future each day.

According to the post, the LCISD Board of Trustees will begin to search for a new superintendent in the coming weeks. Superintendent Bryant will continue to lead the district through the end of June 2025.

“Thank you for allowing me the privilege of serving as your superintendent,” he said. “It has been the honor of a lifetime to lead and learn alongside all of you. May God continue to bless each of you and may God continue to bless Lubbock- Cooper ISD.”

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Former LCISD Board Member Larry Leblanc, 51, was arrested on June 20, 2023. Charged with:

• Harassment
• Evading Arrest
• Detention with a Vehicle
• Unlawful Carrying of a Weapon
• Terroristic Threat of a Family/Household Member

Bond is currently set at $57,500.

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A civil rights complaint against Lubbock Cooper ISD alleging racist discrimination has been filed with the U.S. Department of Education.

Community advocates announced the move at the school district’s board of trustees meeting Monday night. Multiple speakers said the district has not properly addressed the allegations of rampant racism in its schools.

The complaint comes months after Black students at Laura Bush Middle School reported they experience almost daily racist bullying. The harassment has included racial slurs that have, at times, led to physical fights. Black students also faced online bullying last school year, when an Instagram account featured pictures of students with racist captions. The complaint alleges Black students also face harsher punishments.

Tracy Kemp is a Black mother with three kids in the Lubbock-Cooper school district. She said administrators have not done enough to address the concerns she has repeatedly brought to them.

“They have failed lots and lots of black and brown children because of their ignorance and negligence,” Kemp said Monday.

Paige Duggins-Clay, a lawyer with the Intercultural Development Research Association, explained that the Office of Civil Rights will next decide if the complaint has merit. If it’s decided that it does, they will open an investigation.

“And through that investigation,” Duggins-Clay said, “we’re really, really hopeful that there will be an opportunity to identify the problems and actually have some meaningful action to fix them.”

Superintendent Keith Bryant told “NBC Nightly News” that Lubbock-Cooper has new diversity training for students and teachers. He said there is no place for racism in the district.

The latest demographic data available shows Lubbock-Cooper’s student body is 3% Black, 39% Hispanic and 54% white. Demographics are similar at the campus level.

First reported by NBC News, a similar complaint was also filed Monday against Slaton ISD. It alleges a Black student who retaliated against a White student for repeatedly calling her racist slurs faced unfair punishment that affected her mental health.

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Students and families of the Lubbock-Cooper Independent School District and Slaton ISD, along with the Lubbock NAACP and the Intercultural Development Research Association filed civil right complaints against the school districts. The violation claims were submitted Monday to the US Department of Education.

According to Paige Duggins Clay, Chief Legal Analyst for non-profit civil rights organization IDRA, the complaints were for “Civil Rights alleging violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

In addition to the written complaints, some concerned residents attended a Monday evening Lubbock-Cooper ISD school meeting to speak during the time set aside for public comments.

Both complaints referenced a Disciplinary Alternative Educational Program where students had to change into an “orange jumpsuit” and were “forced to endure other students in DAEP hurling racial slurs on a daily basis.”

The Slaton ISD complaint stated that “a Black Jewish girl with a disability—on track to be valedictorian of her senior class—was later sent to DAEP for 45 days after being forced to defend herself against a white boy who repeatedly called her the “N word,” despite her and other students’ pleas for him to stop.” According to the complaint, Black students at Slaton High School were “daily subjected to their non-Black peers using the “N word” and other racial slurs, bullying, and harassment.”

The complaint said school employees responded to student complaints by “suggesting they should ignore the harassment, because “it’s just a word.””

In response to the complaint, Slaton ISD released a statement to EverythingLubbock.com.

Slaton Independent School District’s Board of Trustees and Administrators take very seriously the prevention of racial discrimination and racial harassment in the district. Slaton ISD has a zero tolerance for racism in any form and, once notified of such, take immediate action with discipline or increasing discipline to stop any such inappropriate actions. Likewise, Slaton ISD Trustees and Administrators take seriously the safety of all students, thoroughly investigating each incident with appropriate consequences. Slaton ISD is working diligently to prevent all forms of discrimination and harassment and will continue to do so.

JIM ANDRUS, SLATON ISD SUPERINTENDENT

A complaint against Lubbock-Cooper ISD said white students played “sounds of cracking whips” on their phones as Black Students walked through the halls of Laura Bush Middle School. The complaint also said Black students were subjected to racial slurs and told to “go pick cotton.”

Racial bullying and harassment led to physical fights and acts of violence against Black students, according to the complaint against Lubbock-Cooper ISD. The complaint said during some instances, white students followed Black students to bathrooms, extracurricular activities and even their homes. According to the complaint, despite “clear evidence” of racial harassment, “administrators only brought discipline against the Black students involved in fights.”

The complaint against Lubbock-Cooper ISD alleged that Assistant Principal Lance Lewis “directly asked one of the Black students if they ‘picked cotton’ after the student reported that white students told him to pick cotton.” On another occasion, the complaint said Lewis told a Black student that the school ‘already had to deal with these [N-word] situations this year.'”

The complaint also referenced a derogatory Instagram page that contained the LCP logo, as EverythingLubbock.com reported in April.

The Complainants are seeking “accountability” along with “measures to ensure that no child is forced to endure a racist learning environment in Lubbock again.”

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Public employee's salaries are public information, should you choose to go digging for those numbers. This includes teachers, and many people who work for State or National agencies. When I worked at a library, my pay rate was public, and also very, very sad.

The Houston Chronicle put together a searchable database of Texas public school superintendent salaries. The Superintendent of Harris County's Cypress-Fairbanks ISD makes over a half a million dollars a year. What does a superintendent do to make all that money?

The superintendent is responsible for managing day-to-day operations, preparing and administering the district's budget, organizing the district's central administration, and ensuring that the district focuses on its primary mission—student academic achievement and progress.

Texas Association of School Boards

That superintendent is in Houston, and probably oversees many, many classrooms and kids. Or it could just be a particularly wealthy area, or perhaps that person is extremely talented and effective. Those are all important things to consider on whether their pay is "fair" or not.

What I'm interested in is Lubbock. The highest paid superintendent in Lubbock is Keith Bryant, of Lubbock-Cooper ISD, who makes about $281,000. He is followed by Kathy Rollo of Lubbock ISD at about $259,000, then Jerri McCord of Frenship at $226,800. After that, there is a significant plunge in pay for superintendents of small districts and charter public schools. The lowest paid superintendent makes only $50,000. The gap in pay between Lubbock superintendents is a whopping $231,376.

Is it fair to look at the numbers that way? Maybe not. If you look at their pay-per-student, the person making the least amount of money out of every superintendent is Dr. Rollo. Lubbock ISD has about 25,660 students, so she's making about $10 a kid. The highest paid per student superintendent in Lubbock County is Merinda Condra of the Betty M Condra School for Education Innovation, who only makes $110,250, but per student that's $596 a head.

If all my calculations are correct, the average pay of a Lubbock County superintendent is only $158,000. Compared to Harris County, that's a huge gap in pay.

Of course, this is just base pay. These folks might make bonuses depending on their students academic performances or some other metric.

In my opinion, the worst disparity is what teachers make versus their work load, education and risks they take each day. The average teacher in Texas makes about $54K. I wish Texas treated teachers better and incentivized the good ones to stay in the profession. They are really invaluable, and should be rewarded for their incredibly hard work.

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Lubbock Fire Rescue crews were dispatched to a reported structure fire in Southwest Lubbock Saturday afternoon.

The incident was reported around 3:45 p.m. in the 11000 block of Troy Avenue.

According to LFR, a neighbor was outside when lightning struck a home. Smoke was then observed and 911 was contacted.

When firefighters arrived on scene, they found smoke coming from the two-story home.

Fire crews then extinguished a fire in the attic space.

LFR said a lightning rod on the roof exhibited markings of a strike. Investigators believe the lightning strike traveled through the attic space and ignited combustibles.

No injuries were reported, and the occupants of the home were not displaced.

The following is a news release from Lubbock Fire Rescue:

On 8-20-2022 at 3:44 p.m. LFR units were called to the scene of a structure fire in the 11000 block of Troy Avenue. A neighbor was outside when lightning struck the residence. After seeing smoke 911 was called. LFR units arrived at the two-story single-family residential home discovering smoke coming from the structure. Firefighters extinguished the fire that was contained to the attic space. A lightning rod on the residence roof was observed to exhibit markings of a lightning strike. The lightning that struck the roof traveled through the attic space, igniting combustibles. There were no injuries and no residents were displaced. The cause of the incident is classified as Lightning Strike.

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