Round Rock Edition | March 2025

Education

In January, Round Rock ISD administrators shared that the district was expecting a surplus budget for the 2024-25 school year after selling $9.3 million in district property. Just one month later, unantici- pated changes in how the district receives funding have upended that expectation. A Feb. 20 nan- cial update from the school district shows a potential shortfall of $3.8 million. Current situation Chief Financial Ocer Dennis Covington said the change in RRISD’s nancial position for the current school year is mostly due to complex funding changes, which means the district will once again pay recapture. This is because tax collections are higher than projected in January, Covington said, triggering recapture. That is a payment to the state of local property tax reve- nues that exceed what the district is allowed to keep based on the state’s funding formula. What they’re saying Covington said administrators RRISD’s surplus turns into $3.8M budget shortfall

“We were expecting to get $1.5 million in that cost report and we’re going to get zero because they said they paid us more than we should have gotten last year. In fact, we have to write them a check for $100,000 this year to settle our Medicaid from last year.” DENNIS

COVINGTON, RRISD CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

were able to reduce the immediate impact of these changes—an $8.1 million projected shortfall—to $3.8 million by identifying $4 million in one-time expenses included in the 2024-25 budget, as well as nding eligible line items that can legally be funded with bond monies. What else? Covington said some other sources of revenue are also expected to decrease, due to pro- jections in estimated investment income as interest rates stayed steady, as well as state revenue and reimbursements for Medic- aid-funded services provided to students.

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through anonymous tip reporting. Tips resulting in an arrest may qualify for a reward up to $5,000. Scan for more information.

The Round Rock ISD board of trustees voted to extend the con- tract of Superintendent Hafedh Azaiez through June 30, 2028, in a Superintendent’s contract extended The superintendent’s contract extension does not come with an increase to Azaiez’s base salary, according to the district. How we got here

called meeting on Jan. 30. What you need to know

RRISD rst hired Azaiez in June 2021, after the departure of former Superintendent Steve Flores in 2020.

In addition to a contract exten- sion, the board also approved a bonus of $21,333 to be paid to the superintendent.

Crime Stoppers is a non-profit organization and NO TAX DOLLARS are involved.

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