Big Spring Independent School District trustees are expected to enter into an agreement with the Howard County election administrator's office to handle the 2009 trustee elections when they hold their monthly meeting at 5:15 p.m. Thursday in the high school board room.

The district routinely contracts with Election Administrator Saundra Bloom to allow her office to handle trustee elections, so the matter is expected to be approved with little or no debate.

Two trustee positions — Districts 2 and 4 — are up for election this year and each position is for three years.

District 2 trustee Maria Padilla said she has not decided whether to run for re-election. District 4 trustee Tony Kennedy was unavailable for comment.

The last contested BSISD trustee election was in 2007, officials said.

Candidates can file at the district's business office, located across the street from Big Spring High School on 11th Place, during normal business hours from Feb. 9 to March 9. Prospective candidates must be U.S. citizens age 18 or over and live in the area they plan to represent, said Debra Green, BSISD business manager.

Early voting for this year's trustee election will run from April 27 to May 5 at the county courthouse. Voting booths for the May 9 election will be located at Garrett Coliseum on the Howard College campus.

Also Thursday, trustees are expected to approve a tax roll in excess of $1 billion. Chief Financial Officer Sandra Waggoner said the certified roll totals $1,171,424,629 for the school district.

The certified roll, however, does not reflect the recent settlement between the Big Spring Refinery and the county tax district, meaning that the actual tax roll for the school district will be about $126 million below the certified level, Waggoner said.

The disparity actually means little to the school district, she added.

“We'll collect more taxes than we budgeted for this year ... but the state will take (the excess) away from us,” Waggoner said. “”Overall, there will be very little impact for us.”

Also Thursday, trustees will consider:

• The district's Academic Excellence Indicator System report for the 2007-2008 school year.

The AEIS report tracks district performance in several areas, including standardized test scores, graduation and drop-out rates and college preparatory work, and compares how those efforts measure up to other school districts in the state.

“It assesses where you are based on state standards,” said Dr. Michael Stevens, interim superintendent for the district. “It really doesn't tell you how good you're doing in some areas as it tells you how badly you are doing in those areas.

“We performed comparably to other districts our size,” Stevens said of the report's conclusions. “ There's definitely room for improvement ... and we'll break down the data from the report and concentrate on those areas we need to improve.”

Contact Staff Writer Steve Reagan at 263-7331 ext. 234 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it