{"id":447652,"date":"2026-09-25T19:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/447652\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T19:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:08:07","slug":"allen-isd-superintendent-talks-legislative-priorities-allen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/447652\/","title":{"rendered":"Allen ISD superintendent talks legislative priorities | Allen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Allen ISD<\/a> Acting Superintendent Kim McLaughlin<\/a> urged the local business community to \u201cbe a voice\u201d for the district during a State of Education event held in September. <\/p>\n

McLaughlin highlighted the school district\u2019s recent accomplishments during the event hosted Sept. 23 by the Allen Chamber of Commerce. McLaughlin spoke on a panel alongside Collin College President Neil Matkin<\/a> and Lovejoy ISD Superintendent Katie Kordel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McLaughlin spoke on several subjects including Allen ISD\u2019s 2024 bond projects<\/a>, affordable housing and opportunities for business leaders to be a voice for the school district. She also spoke about the district\u2019s priorities during the upcoming state legislative session, which is expected to start in 2027. <\/p>\n

In a nutshell<\/p>\n

Allen ISD needs \u201csufficient and sustainable funding\u201d to carry out state mandates while offering competitive compensation to teachers and staff, McLaughlin said. One of the district\u2019s main focuses in the upcoming legislative session will be on retention and recruitment of teachers and staff, she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really, really important that we are able to provide our teachers with appropriate compensation for them,\u201d McLaughlin said. \u201cWe know that education is a people business and it takes a lot of people to run a district.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the district board of trustees approved a 2% pay increase from the salary midpoint<\/a> for district teachers and staff. Allen ISD\u2019s 2026-27 school year budget, adopted in June<\/a>, accounts for the salary increases and projects a $5.3 million shortfall within the district\u2019s general fund. <\/p>\n

Projected revenue is falling by about $4.5 million compared to the original budget adopted for the 2025-26 school year. The projected revenue decrease is partly due to decreasing student enrollment<\/a>, district officials said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are watching our enrollment decline as well,\u201d McLaughlin said. \u201c[We\u2019re] trying to come up with strategies in order to get people to stay here and get students to come into our district.\u201d<\/p>\n

One such strategy is the Allen Advantage program,<\/a> which enables open enrollment for out-of-district students. Twenty students enrolled in Allen ISD for the spring 2026 semester after the program soft-launched in November.<\/p>\n

Now, about 250 out-of-district students are enrolled in Allen ISD schools through the program, McLaughlin said. <\/p>\n

Looking ahead<\/p>\n

McLaughlin highlighted the district\u2019s recent achievements such as the \u201cA\u201d accountability rating received by the Texas Education Agency<\/a> earlier this year. She said she was proud of the district\u2019s partnerships with local businesses for the teacher externship program<\/a>. <\/p>\n

She asked the business community to \u201cbe present\u201d and \u201cbe a voice\u201d for the district and students. The district has opportunities for businesses to come to its schools and mentor its students, she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to hear from you so we know where to take our students,\u201d McLaughlin said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Allen ISD Acting Superintendent Kim McLaughlin urged the local business community to \u201cbe a voice\u201d for the district…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[154258,69449,56070,46470,154255,154259,160,162,161,154256,154257],"class_list":["post-447652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-allen-advantage","tag-allen-chamber-of-commerce","tag-allen-isd","tag-collin-college","tag-kim-mclaughlin","tag-lovejoy-isd","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news","tag-state-of-education","tag-teacher-compensation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}