Pearland - Friendswood Edition | April 2023

EDUCATION BRIEFS

News from Pearland & Clear Creek ISDs

Pearland ISD superintendent talks financial challenges at district event PEARLAND ISD Superintendent Larry Berger addressed the state of public education in Texas at a State of the District event March 23, saying the district is in a difficult situation due to low state funding, teacher shortages and other com- pounding issues. and paying for 100% of students and staff at each facility. “That is millions of dollars we are not receiving through ADA,” he said. $20.26M CURRENT AND FUTURE PEARLAND ISD BUDGET DEFICITS PROJECTED DEFICITS Pearland ISD is projecting budget deficits in the coming years. BY DANIEL WEEKS

Berger called for a change to enrollment-based funding over the attendance-based system and changes to how mandatory pre-K is funded. He said these topics were discussed with state House and Senate chairs and the Texas Education Agency. “Not all of this is going to happen; I understand that,” Berger said. The district and the state continue to face a teacher shortage, with Berger saying that 77% of current teachers in the state have considered leaving their profession. Additionally, he said the district no longer being a “fast-growing” district contributed to plateaued funding from the state. Berger addressed a bill currently going through the Texas congress that is co-written by District 11 Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Wallisville, among other senators. The bill, Senate Bill 8, aims to empower parents’ ability to choose schools and bolster private education by offering families $8,000 per-student to help pay for private school tuition through an “education savings account program.” Berger said a focus on teacher retention would help keep students and families enrolled at PISD.

$17.01M

Berger highlighted the causes of a prospective budget deficit in the coming school year. He said the district, which spends 85% of its budget on personnel, is running short on spending to cut. “We can’t make those cuts in the classroom,” Berger said. “It’s a difficult proposition.” The district faces a $15.1 million deficit going into the next school year and beyond. State legis- lative actions may address the method with which school districts are funded, including increasing the basic per-student allotment or de-emphasizing reliance on property taxes. The per-student funding allotment from the state is based on average daily attendance, or ADA, which is a system Berger criticized. Texas is one of the six states that uses the ADA system and is 39th in the nation for per-people funding, according to Berger. Berger said the ADA system allocates about 94% of funding to PISD despite the district budgeting

$15.12M

$7.37M

FY 2022-23

FY 2023-24*

FY 2024-25*

FY 2025-26*

SOURCE: PEARLAND ISD/ COMMUNITY IMPACT

*FY 2023-26 AMOUNTS ARE PROJECTED ESTIMATES

“We may lose funds, but we can’t lose quality educators. We have to figure out how to keep them in the classroom. And when we keep quality educators in the classroom and we keep showing results like this, nobody’s leaving,” Berger said. The state went into this year’s legislative ses- sion with a surplus of $32.7 billion. Berger said he looks forward to seeing how much of the surplus will be invested into public education.

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