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Despite meeting for three separate sessions over the past eight months, the 88th Texas Legislature has yet to provide additional funding for public education for the next biennium. FIGHTING FOR FUNDS
18.5% from April 2019-April 2023, according to the Texas comptroller’s o ce—school districts have had trou- ble keeping up with rising costs of their operations. At SISD’s June 27 board meeting, Westbrooks warned that FY 2023-24 wouldn’t be the end of budget short- falls for the district. Without changes to the basic allotment, shortfalls can be expected for at least the next four budget cycles, with a $47.3 million shortfall anticipated for FY 2027-28. SISD saw a 1.9% growth in its stu- dent population for the 2022-23 school year, according to a Zonda Educa- tion demographics report, but Janu- ary data shows recouping pandemic enrollment losses is still projected to take at least eight school years. Yearly budget shortfalls would eat into the district’s fund balance, which acts like a savings account for school districts and totals about $77 million, Westbrooks said. By FY 2026-27— assuming a 2% expenditure increase per year—SISD’s fund balance would be overdrawn by about $24.7 million. While KISD was able to pass its FY 2023-24 budget without making any signicant cuts, Schaefer said without an increase to the state’s basic allotment, the district’s expenses could eventually outweigh its revenue. “Recurring revenues are not going to keep up with recurring costs, which is why, from a long-term perspective, the big push is for an increase in funding for students so that we can better match up current expenses with current revenues,” Schaefer said. “The revenue source is just stagnant right now.” On the state side, many funding bills failed because of e¤orts to tie them to a private school voucher program as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s goal to make private institutions more a¤ordable, Popinski said. The program didn’t garner enough support in the Legislature, blocking many bills from passing that otherwise might have had the needed votes. For example, House Bill 100, authored by Rep. Ken King, RCanadian, would have raised the minimum salaries for public school employees; boosted the amount of money schools receive from the state; and increased funding for certain programs, such as bilingual and early education classes. The bipartisan House proposal died
during the nal days of the regular session after senators added “school choice” measures, which the House historically opposed, as previously reported by Community Impact. Retaining teachers On the other side of the education funding issue is an ongoing national teacher shortage—nearly 11.6% of teachers left their jobs at Texas pub- lic schools ahead of the 2021-22 school year, according to the Texas Educa- tion Agency. However, budget issues are mak- ing it more di cult to increase com- pensation and retain educators, Popinski said. Nearly all proposals aimed at increasing school funding in the legislative session ended up on the cutting-room oor. Among those included proposals to increase teacher pay. Senate Bill 9, authored by Sen. Bran- don Creighton, RConroe, was aimed at improving teacher retention by pro- viding one-time bonuses for educators, creating a teacher residency program and helping schools rehire retired teachers. The bill failed after House lawmakers added other school funding and support measures. SISD’s FY 2023-24 budget did not include teacher raises, and it did not raise starting teacher salaries—actions that were both taken for FY 2022-23. “An increase in the basic allotment would have been very benecial … and would have provided reliable, recurring funding to provide teacher raises and address rising costs,” West- brooks said. Meanwhile, KISD’s FY 2023-24 budget did include a minimum pay increase of $3,600 for all returning KISD teachers as well as 2% increases and retention stipends for all other returning Teacher Retirement System-eligible employees. Market adjustments were also made to hourly wages for various support positions. However, KISD did not increase its starting teacher salary this scal year as it has historically. “We’re really focusing our e¤orts on experience this year,” Schaefer said. “We did a thorough review of our pay scale structure and made adjustments to experienced teachers to recognize that level of experience and make sure we’re competitive throughout the entire range.”
Jan. 10: The 88th Texas Legislature regular session convenes with nearly $33 billion in its coers. May 19: Senate Bill 9 fails to pass the House; the bill would have improved teacher retention by providing bonuses, creating a teacher residency program and helping schools rehire retired teachers. May 23: House Bill 100 dies in the Senate; the bill would have raised minimum salaries for public school employees, boosted state funding for schools and increased money for certain programs. May 29-30: The regular session adjourns without additional funding for public education. Legislators reconvene for the rst special session to discuss property tax relief and border control. June 19: Klein ISD trustees adopt a balanced budget for the 2023-24 scal year, which includes raises for returning teachers, Teacher Retirement System-eligible employees and sta earning hourly wages; ocials don’t raise the starting teacher salary. June 27: Legislators reconvene for a second special session to discuss property tax relief. June 29: Spring ISD trustees adopt a $455.3 million budget for FY 2023-24 with a $25.4 million shortfall; the district will use a federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund grant to cover a majority of the shortfall, leaving a $3.1 million gap. July 1: FY 2023-24 begins for both Spring and Klein ISDs. Aug. 9-10: Students in Klein and Spring ISDs return to classrooms for the 2023-24 school year. October: Legislators are expected to reconvene for a third special session to discuss public education funding.
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SOURCES: SPRING ISD, KLEIN ISD, TEXAS LEGISLATURE ONLINECOMMUNITY IMPACT
“Given that ESSER funding is end- ing, and many districts—including SISD—are still recovering from the impacts of the pandemic and grap- pling with soaring costs as a result of ination, the legislators’ failure to pro- vide additional recurring new funding was very disappointing,” SISD Chief Financial O cer Ann Westbrooks said. Meanwhile, KlSD CFO Dan Schae- fer said the district was able to pass a balanced budget for FY 2023-24 in a special-called board meeting June 19. “Historical actions of the board and good decisions made by past leadership have helped allow us to ... weather the storm a little bit better than others,” Schaefer said. “We have a strong reserve, so we’ve been able to adopt a balanced budget this year, which, looking around, there weren’t too many of those.” Popinski cited a number of eco- nomic factors for school districts’ budget shortfalls, such as ination, which has driven up operating costs, as well as state and federal money tied to the pandemic drying up.
State funding for schools is determined based on a basic allotment of $6,160 per student who meets an attendance threshold. The allotment— the main income source for school districts aside from local property taxes—has not risen since House Bill 3 passed in 2019, according to the Texas Education Agency. The state would need to add roughly $1,000 to the allotment this year to match ination that has happened since the last increase, Popinski said. State Rep. Sam Harless, RSpring, said he would like to see an increase in the basic allotment, but actually raising the allotment could be di cult to achieve. “The basic allotment should be increased, but you [have] to remem- ber that education and human health and human resources consists of 70% of the state’s budget, so it’s hard to,” Harless said. Fighting ination Due to high rates of ination in recent years for Texas—totaling about
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