BY BROOKE SJOBERG
Driving decisions
What it means
Smaller class sizes: Some parents prefer students have more one-on-one attention.
who works with many area districts—said that in compiling projections, he has observed a sharp increase in homeschooling. “The charter expansion has been going on for all 10 years,” Templeton said. “Then we saw a surge of homeschooling that is a little harder to quantify because we don’t have the homeschool data.” César Barroso, a parent with two children who live within PfISD’s boundaries, said one of his daughters attends Valor Public Schools, and he’s planning for his younger daughter to attend the charter school. Part of the school’s appeal, he said, is its classical model and curriculum, which he said is in line with his values. Having more students attend the campuses they are zoned for could bring additional dollars to PfISD, but Land said it would not solve cost pressures such as recapture, a mechanism that requires some Texas schools to pay a portion of their property tax revenue back to the state. As HISD grows, Brittany Swanson, associate superintendent of instruction and innovation, said the district hopes to retain students by maintaining quality programming. Should the transfer rate stay at this pace, she said it could decrease some opportunities within the district. “With every student that opts out of the public school experience, I think we would argue that they might be missing an opportunity and a well- rounded education in public school,” she said.
Families are enrolling their children in charter and private schools for a variety of reasons. Sarah Gardner, director of community engage- ment for Meridian World School, said the charter school offers a smaller environment for students to enjoy many of the same opportunities they would have at a traditional public school. Michelle Paul, Crosslife Christian Academy’s admissions director, and Daniel Cattau, Concordia High School’s head of school, both pointed to smaller classes and relationships between teachers and students as a main benefit of private schooling. Bob Templeton—a demographer with Templeton Demographics, also known as Zonda Education,
Special programming: Some parents chose schools with career development programs.
Religious affiliation: Some parents wanted to keep a religious aspect to education.
“[Public schools] weren’t doing a really good job of teaching children how to think; they were teaching our children what to think.” CÉSAR BARROSO, VALOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS PARENT RESIDING IN PFISD
Going forward
Financial impact
On a year-to-year basis, enrollment can impact many decisions made by school leaders, PfISD Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Land said. With enrollment stagnating and the cost of operations increasing, the district has used tax rate elections to fund pay raises, while state funding hurdles in the upcoming budget year present more challenges. In HISD, Chief Financial Officer Caleb Steed said the $4.5 million in funding the district would have received for the 977 students that transferred out in 2022-23 would be somewhat offset by the cost of additional staff and resources needed for those students. However, it could have helped shrink the $6 million budget deficit for that year.
These are rough estimates of basic allotment funding school districts would have received from the state if all students attended 100% of the time in 2022-23.
Basic allotment funding**
District
Net transfers*
Pflugerville ISD 5,374
$29,777,440
Hutto ISD
735
$4,527,600
Round Rock ISD 5,201
$32,038,160
Georgetown ISD 1,415
$8,716,400
*NET TRANSFERS = STUDENTS TRANSFERRING OUT - STUDENTS TRANSFERRING IN **THESE AMOUNTS ARE SOLELY BASED ON THE BASIC ALLOTMENT PER STUDENT IN STATE FUNDING, WHICH HAS REMAINED $6,160 PER STUDENT SINCE 2019.
SOURCES: GEORGETOWN ISD, HUTTO ISD, PFLUGERVILLE ISD, ROUND ROCK ISD, TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
Sat., March 23, 2024 | 9 a.m.-Noon Pflugerville High School (gym) | 1301 W. Pecan St., Pflugerville ATTENTION JOB SEEKERS! THE GREATER PFLUGERVILLE JOB PFAIR
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