Representatives from Murray School District elementary, junior high and high schools told the district board that School LAND Trust and TSSA allocations for 2025–26 will primarily fund paraprofessionals, expanded small‑group intervention blocks, professional development and digital behavior systems aimed at improving literacy, math and school climate.

School leaders and community council chairs said the money will pay for more reading and math intervention time, add or extend paraprofessional hours, buy curriculum and software such as IXL, and purchase a districtwide PBIS Rewards digital behavior system to replace paper tickets and streamline data collection. Jill Burnside, chair of Grant Elementary’s community council, summarized the approach: "If it's not broke, why fix it?" and said the plan keeps successful supports in place while targeting new needs.

The plans reported to the board showed a consistent focus on three areas: (1) increasing adult support in classrooms through paraprofessionals to run reading and math interventions, (2) improving teacher capacity through paid planning and targeted professional development, and (3) using data and software to monitor student progress and behavior.

Examples cited by presenters included Horizon Elementary’s use of digital PBIS badges and a 50‑minute K–3 reading intervention block; Grant Elementary’s continued group intervention structure with added math workshops and new manipulatives; Longview Elementary’s targets of 75% of students at benchmark in math and 80% in reading, with extra emphasis on students with disabilities; and Parkside Elementary’s plan to use School LAND Trust primarily to raise WIDA (English‑language proficiency) scores for multilingual learners.

Several schools described how paraprofessionals are scheduled. Presenters said K–3 classrooms have dedicated para time for reading interventions (50 minutes per day) and that many schools already schedule a 30‑minute math intervention block that they plan to expand by adding para hours. At Horizon, staff said paraprofessionals push into classrooms for small groups and teachers use scheduled master‑schedule blocks so interventions are predictable.

Software and curricular tools named during presentations included IXL (used for math and ELA practice and parent engagement), Read 180/Read 100 and Math 180 (secondary interventions), and PBIS Rewards (digital behavior tracking with QR badges). Longview and other schools described buying IXL licenses and paying for Shannon Olsen professional development for stronger math instruction if a pending STEM grant is awarded.

District and school presenters flagged specific needs and results that shaped spending decisions. Hillcrest Junior High said a package of interventions (Read/Math programs, school success classes and a new MTSS coordinator) is being used as part of a push to reduce out‑of‑school suspensions and chronic absenteeism; Hillcrest reported about 68 students missing more than 10 days in a roughly 700‑student school (about 9–10% chronically absent). Murray High reported declines in failing grades across terms (a 52‑F drop in first quarter versus a three‑year average, 206 fewer F’s in second quarter, 126 fewer in third quarter) and said flex/lehi passes have been heavily used (about 22,000 passes in the third quarter and roughly 85,000 year‑to‑date) as part of credit recovery and re‑engagement efforts.

Parkside and other schools foregrounded multilingual learners. Parkside’s community council chair, Elise Tate, said the school’s WIDA proficiency rate was 17% in 2024 and the three‑year plan aims for roughly 20 percentage‑point increases annually to reach a district and state expectation for growth. Parkside said most of its School LAND Trust money will fund an ELD/ELD‑support teacher to run newcomer classes and targeted small‑group instruction.

Presenters also described nonacademic spending tied to school climate and engagement: funding field trips and arts and STEM programming, replacing worn classroom headphones and televisions, and supporting family engagement work such as one‑school family events.

Board members commended the community councils for using data to keep effective practices and narrow or shift supports where needed; no formal vote or action was taken at the meeting. Schools will return to the board with results and updated budgets as they implement the plans.

Ending: The board heard detailed, school‑level decisions that will shape instruction and behavior supports across the district next year; district leaders said they will continue monitoring outcomes and bring updates to the board during the school year.