School Finance

Public schools face funding freeze
“The ice age is here.” These words greeted San Antonio area school superintendents last week when briefed by Omar Garcia, the state's leading expert on Texas public school funding. He was referring to the state's current funding formulas, which freeze school district (local and state) revenue at the level (per student) available to each district in 2005. The freeze has exacerbated both equity and adequacy issues. Regarding equity, the 1,000-plus districts across Texas are “frozen” at significantly different maximum revenue levels, depending on their economic status in 2005. That same year, the Texas Supreme Court narrowly avoided labeling the entire Texas school funding system as unconstitutional. Texas is now on the brink of exhausting its total fiscal capacity for education spending. Our funding system can best be described as an unconstitutional and inadequate state imposed tax with only the barest illusion of local school board discretion. [ View Article ] Mar 11, 2010, 08:36

Friendswood: FISD may see more than budget cuts
Friendswood’s largest employer may be forced to lay off employees.Friendswood Independent School District, the city’s largest employer with nearly 700 workers, is facing a $700,000 deficit which could force the district to cut jobs.“The teachers already know about this. They already know we’re cutting the budget. [ View Article ] Mar 11, 2010, 07:57

Ft. Bend: FBISD eyes cost-saving measures
Fort Bend ISD continues to analyze data from every service area to determine all available options to eliminate a proposed $18 to $20 million deficit and produce a balanced budget for the 2010-2011 school year. At a board budget workshop Monday, Ben Copeland, Chief Auxiliary Services Officer, presented trustees with several strategies that collectively would reduce bus transportation costs by approximately $2.2 million next year. [ View Article ] Mar 11, 2010, 07:57

Changes abound at Ingram Middle School
Several changes are afoot at Ingram Middle School in advance of the impending shift of sixth-graders back to the elementary campus at the beginning of next year. The district board of trustees voted Monday night to sell three of the middle school’s portable classroom trailers during the summer in order to bring in additional revenue for the district. The district also will put out bids for eight other trailers throughout the campus that are no longer being used. [ View Article ] Mar 11, 2010, 07:47

School Crisis Rattles Missouri - Kansas City Board Approves Plan to Shutter Nearly Half of District's Buildings
The Kansas City Missouri School Board voted Wednesday night to shutter nearly half of its schools in an effort to avoid going broke. The action closes 28 of 58 campuses and eliminates about 700 of the district's 3,300 jobs, including 285 teachers. The plan, dubbed "Right Sizing the District," aims to end the deficit and address poor academic performance by consolidating services and cutting under-performing staff. [ View Article ] Mar 11, 2010, 07:45

La Marque: LMISD could close school, cut jobs
Budget cuts may compel the La Marque school district to shut down one of its campuses and reconfigure others, district officials said Wednesday. The school board also is considering layoffs to cut $4.9 million from next year’s budget. It eventually might hike the tax rate by as much as 10 percent to offset a budget shortfall. There are several options on the table, district spokeswoman Denise McLean said. [ View Article ] Mar 11, 2010, 07:40

Fort Bend: FBISD Board Declares Financial Exigency, Prepares For ‘Reduction In Force’
The Fort Bend Independent School District has approved a resolution declaring a financial exigency, meaning that the district is in an imminent financial crisis that cannot be resolved without a reduction of staff. The district adopted a deficit budget of $18.6 million in 2009-2010, and is projected to have a continued deficit budget of $18 million to $20 million in 2010-2011. [ View Article ] Mar 10, 2010, 08:14

Texas Education Agency to rethink cuts for pregnant, parenting teens
Crucial funding for pregnant and parenting teens will be re-examined for cuts after concerns were raised during a legislative committee hearing Monday in Austin. All state agencies were told to cut budgets by 5 percent as Texas faces a shortfall of $10 billion to $20 billion going into the next session of the Legislature in 2011. The Texas Education Agency proposed $135.5 million in cuts last month that include reducing or eliminating various state grant programs. TEA had recommended cutting about $10 million from the Life Skills Program for Student Parents, which pays for services for pregnant or parenting teens. TEA suggests that many dropout prevention services funded through that grant could be available through other means, such as federal Title I funds aimed at helping low-income students. [ View Article ] Mar 9, 2010, 08:10

Ft. Bend: FBISD adds “Budget Challenges” link to district web site
Fort Bend Independent School District officials are giving the public and its employees a new way to stay informed regarding the district’s plans to address current budget challenges. Individuals can access a new “Budget Challenges” link on the districts home page at www.fortbendisd.com. The web site will include a variety of information, including a comprehensive financial report, frequently asked questions, a budget workshop schedule, a budget power point presentation and a cost analysis and staffing study. [ View Article ] Mar 8, 2010, 08:25

Ft. Bend: FBISD begins analyzing cost-cutting measures
Fort Bend Independent School District Supt. Timothy Jenney announced in a recent e-mail to employees that the district is ”beginning now” to analyze cost-cutting measures needed to reduce the district’s projected $18 to $20 million budget deficit. The first step the district must take is to declare a financial exigency, and by law include language in the resolution identifying areas which may be affected, Jenney said. [ View Article ] Mar 8, 2010, 08:00

Denton: DISD proactive on budget pinch
Denton school officials told trustees this week that the fiscal budget for the 2010-11 school year will be tight, and that significant program cuts and staff reductions would be made the following year. For more than five hours this week, school officials and trustees met for a retreat-style budget workshop session to discuss two upcoming fiscal budget ... [ View Article ] Mar 8, 2010, 07:33

Hard for Austin school superintendent to fix budget with hands tied
When Austin school trustees hired Superintendent Meria Carstarphen last year, they issued strong directives: Raise academic standards, turn around failing schools, reduce the dropout rate, give gifted and talented students more challenging subjects, pay teachers competitive salaries, and recruit and retain talented people. [ View Article ] Mar 5, 2010, 08:32

Houston ISD cutting 269 positions; District is restructuring its administration
At least 269 positions will be eliminated in a massive restructuring of the Houston Independent School District that's expected to save at least $8.2 million, officials said today. The restructuring eliminates HISD's five regional offices and moves many jobs back to the central office. The aim is to improve service and eliminate redundancies found in several areas, including professional development, HISD officials said. “We've got more people doing services than we think is necessary,” Superintendent Terry Grier said. The district's new structure will feature chief officers for high schools, middle schools and elementary schools, as well as school improvement officers who each oversee as many as eight campuses. [ View Article ] Mar 5, 2010, 08:32

New Template - from ESC 13
A new HB 3646 template that contains the calculations for the 2009-10 thru the 2012-13 school years is now available (release 8 dated 2/23/10). This template reflects the latest understanding of the school finance provisions contained in HB 3646 as passed by the 81st session of the Texas Legislature. Please check periodically for updates.
A new HB 3646 template (release 2 dated 2/10/10) has been developed with new users in mind. It is the same as the HB 3646 template linked in the first paragraph, except that it has been expanded to include descriptions about the data being entered and explanations of some of the calculations Mar 5, 2010, 08:20

Ft. Bend: Release of Fort Bend ISD budget strategy delayed
Employees in the Fort Bend Independent School District will have to wait a bit longer for details of a plan aimed at reducing the district’s $18 million budget deficit. In a recent e-mail to employees FBISD Supt. Timothy Jenney modified a statement made in a previous e-mail to employees which projected to release the district’s budget strategy by the end of February. [ View Article ] Mar 5, 2010, 07:50

Carstarphen and Austin ISD trustees wrestle over priorities, budget, and power
When Pat Forgione retired last year after a decade as superintendent of the Austin Independent School District, he left for his successor one piece of advice. "What you gotta be careful of in Austin," he said, "you gotta bring the group to your vision." That was in late February 2009, just days before the AISD board of trustees announced Meria Carstarphen as the sole finalist to fill Forgione's post. A year later, Carstarphen is making the district her own. When the board approves the budget for the 2010-2011 school year in August, it will be the first one wholly created by Carstarphen and her Chief Financial Officer Nicole Conley-Abram, and the first one that reflects Carstarphen's style of management and vision for the district. [ View Article ] Mar 5, 2010, 07:32

Daingerfield: Financial woes force Lone Star school closure
Daingerfield-Lone Star school trustees voted Feb. 16 to close Lone Star Elementary School. Lone Star parent and former student Kristin Waites learned the news Tuesday."I just moved here from Tarrant County to put him in that school while I go to college," Waites said of her 6-year-old son Hunter. She attends Northeast Texas Community College in Mount Pleasant. Daingerfield-Lone Star administrators said financial pressures led trustees to decide to close the school in May and send its 140 students to Daingerfield-Lone Star's other two elementary campuses five miles away. Officials hoped word of mouth would reach parents, but the district had not sent letters to parents as of Tuesday because Superintendent Pat Adams is recovering from knee surgery and out of the office, said Lone Star Elementary Principal Lesia Lewis. [ View Article ] Mar 4, 2010, 08:32

Temple: TISD officials address budget rumors
If students would come to school on a regular basis, schools wouldn't be in the shape they're in, Temple Superintendent Robin Battershell told a group of people concerned about cuts to the Fine Arts Department. [ View Article ] Mar 4, 2010, 08:31

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