On Tuesday, Oct. 15, the Lubbock ISD Future Focus Committee met for the first time to discuss the district’s future amid a 14.8-million-dollar budget deficit, no new state funding and declining enrollment rates. The committee, which is composed of 100 community members, educators and students, discussed the idea of combining school campuses to help the district better serve their students in the coming years. While it was only a conversation, it shocked a few parents at first. view article

One in every five El Paso Independent School District elementary schools would close if the school board approves a plan unveiled by administrators Thursday night. The plan outlined by Superintendent Diana Sayavedra during a special Board of Trustees meeting would close 10 elementary campuses while adding resources to remaining schools. view article

Leander ISD has decided to close eight of its campuses due to ongoing repair work on a gas line along FM 620. view article

School safety remains a top concern for districts and while the state has made money for campus security improvements available, Conroe ISD officials say more funding is needed.  Conroe ISD trustees finalized its priorities Tuesday for the upcoming legislative session, including seeking an increase in the state allotment to provide funding for safety measures and mandated safety upgrades. House Bill 3, which went into effect in September 2023, made more than $1 billion available to public schools but only $10 per student for funding safety measures and $15,000 per campus.   view article

The lottery, mired in controversy, is up for sunset review in 2025.  The vast majority (75 percent) of the lottery’s $8 billion in annual revenue is spent on administering the lottery, advertising, payouts, and other costs. view article

The Texas Education Agency has cleared acting Houston school district Superintendent Mike Miles of wrongdoing after he was accused of improperly diverting millions of dollars in state funds to his Colorado charter school system. After reporting from Spectrum News and The Texas Observer prompted calls for an investigation earlier this year, the education agency concluded on Tuesday that neither Miles — who the agency picked to lead the state’s largest school district last year — nor his charter school network, Third Future Schools, “violated any applicable Texas laws,” according to the 29-page investigation report. view article

Lewisville ISD is considering closing or consolidating as many as 20 campuses amid a budget shortfall and declining enrollment. The district faces a $4.5 million deficit and nearly 10,000 fewer students in the next decade, said Superintendent Lori Rapp and a Lewisville ISD committee looking into efforts to become more efficient. Closing or consolidating 20 campuses will be one possible result, said Rapp, to “right size” the district. view article

Leander ISD faces a nearly $30 million budget deficit next school year. The Texas legislature has not increased funding for public schools since 2019, and many school districts, like Leander ISD, say that's just not enough. view article

Lewisville ISD is considering closing or consolidating as many as 20 campuses amid a budget shortfall and declining enrollment. The district faces a $4.5 million deficit and nearly 10,000 fewer students in the next decade, said Superintendent Lori Rapp and a Lewisville ISD committee looking into efforts to become more efficient. Closing or consolidating 20 campuses will be one possible result, said Rapp, to “right size” the district. view article

Keller ISD is hoping to offset lunch debt for students following the district's announcement that it would begin serving "alternative meals" to students who have unpaid meal charges. "We simply want you to know that Keller ISD has and will continue to fill the gap by providing free breakfast and lunch, as we always have," the district said in a letter to parents on Friday. view article

More than half of the state’s school districts are facing budget shortfalls this year while also navigating the conclusion of federal stimulus funds, forcing districts to make hard decisions related to staffing and programming. In addition, districts are experiencing an increase in educators considering leaving the profession due to a lack of funds, increased class sizes, and lower salaries. “Inflation has affected every aspect of our operations, from construction costs to daily expenses. As a school district, we face the same challenges as households: rising utility bills, increased fuel costs for our buses, and higher prices for essential supplies. These real-world economic pressures have a significant impact on our budget," Prosper ISD Superintendent Holly Ferguson said. “School districts have to turn the lights on, we have to pay the water bill, we have to fuel buses. All those real-life things are happening in our schools as well.”   view article

More than half of the state’s school districts are facing budget shortfalls this year while also navigating the conclusion of federal stimulus funds, forcing districts to make hard decisions related to staffing and programming. In addition, districts are experiencing an increase in educators considering leaving the profession due to a lack of funds, increased class sizes and lower salaries.  “We have the unfunded safety mandates from the state that added to what we have to spend money on, we had decreased funding from the federal government for our school health and related services,” Georgetown ISD Superintendent Devin Padavil said. “It was this perfect storm of decreased revenue and increased expenses that have hit school districts, and there's no easy solution in sight.” view article

The calls started coming in Monday to the Houston Federation of Teachers, the largest workers' union in Houston ISD. Members had questions and concerns about their recently received paychecks, which were smaller than they had been this fall – in some cases by more than $300. The employees found out a day later they had been inadvertently overpaid by the largest school district in Texas, which told them Tuesday the most recent amounts are accurate. HISD also told the 4,000 or so impacted employees that, because of the previous overpayments, they would see deductions on subsequent paychecks. view article

Budget issues within Lewisville ISD are causing the district to consider school closures and boundary changes. During a Monday, Oct. 7, board of trustees meeting, LISD officials discussed plans to address potential campus closures or boundary changes. The district cited falling enrollment trends, current campus capacities, facility and staffing efficiency and attendance boundaries as reasons for the potential cutbacks. view article

Another North Texas school district is considering school closures and boundary changes to address declining enrollment and state funding issues. Lewisville Independent School District is facing a $4.5 million budget deficit. "And so if we do not make some financial changes, then what we would see is that deficit would grow," said Dr. Lori Rapp, the superintendent of LISD. view article

Beginning Oct. 21, the Keller Independent School District said it will begin serving an alternative meal to some students who have unpaid meal charges. The district said this applies to students across all grade levels with unpaid lunch balances greater than $25. "Keller ISD schools want to first ensure that all students have access to nutritious meals during school hours regardless of financial circumstances, while also addressing costly negative balances that may be accrued," the district said in a letter to parents. view article

Round Rock Independent School District trustee Mary Bone has released a video containing bribery allegations against Board President Amber Feller. view article

The newest report from Truth in Accounting graded all U.S. states’ financial positions, placing Texas at 26 out of 50 states and giving it a financial grade of “C.” view article

Keller ISD board members voted unanimously to authorize defeasance, or paying down the principal, of debt at their Sept. 26 meeting. The move should save the district an estimated $3.4 million. During his presentation to the board, Chief Operations Officer John Allison said the district worked with its financial advisor, Hilltop Securities, to identify opportunities for savings on interest and sinking debt based on current market conditions. view article

Bryan ISD school board members at its last meeting (September 23) approve this year’s health insurance plans and rates. The district’s share of the cost rose six percent, while premiums for BISD employees increased three percent. Before the board’s unanimous vote, was discussion about one unidentified free standing emergency room billing Bryan ISD almost $21 million dollars in the last three years. view article

Budget issues have prompted the Coppell Independent School District to close an elementary campus, despite dozens of parents trying to stop that from happening. view article

Coppell trustees narrowly voted to close its oldest elementary school Monday night, with district leaders lamenting the painful decision as necessary because of a financial squeeze triggered by declining enrollment and stagnant state funding. The trustees’ decision devastated Pinkerton Elementary families, who said the closure means children will attend campuses farther from their homes and away from their friends next year. view article

Argyle ISD will host several opportunities for families and the community to learn more about its School Funding Referendum that will be presented to voters in the November election. view article

McAllen ISD Deputy Superintendent for Business and Operations Lorena Garcia gave a preliminary fund balance report this week for the school year 2023-2024 which included an unprecedented surplus of around $32 million at the end of the year. “When we came in here we had, last year, a $6 million deficit and then a $14 million deficit this year which was a total of $20 million … but now we can safely say that with this savings we have wiped out the deficit,” MISD Superintendent René Gutiérrez said during the meeting. “This is not counting that we gave everyone a raise … not too many school districts can report these types of finances. We will continue to monitor (the finances) and we would like to give this money back to the kids and to the staff.” view article

Upgrades to the system Texas uses to collect student, staff and financial data from school districts are causing serious concerns among school administrators and data specialists across the state who say the changes have led to thousands of unresolved errors that could potentially cause them to lose out on state funding. Each of Texas’ more than 1,200 school districts is required to regularly submit data to the state, including information on attendance, enrollment, students who receive special education, children experiencing homelessness and the number of kids who have completed a college preparatory course. State officials use the information to determine whether schools are meeting performance standards and how much funding they receive each year. view article

Humble ISD officials began the 2024-25 school year on Aug. 7 with an emphasis on food services spending, which officials said helped lead to a $15 million shortfall in this year’s budget. HISD Chief Financial Officer Billy Beattie noted around $36.2 million of the district’s $651 million budget for fiscal year 2024-25 is allocated toward various food services projects. view article

On Sept. 5, Spring ISD’s board of trustees reviewed how the district’s finances and demographics compare to other districts as part of an audit for the voter-approval tax rate election that will be on ballots in November. On Aug. 13, SISD trustees called for a VATRE as the district faces an almost $12 million fiscal year 2024-25 budget shortfall, as previously reported by Community Impact. A VATRE would raise the district’s tax rate by $0.05 and bring in $20.1 million more in total funding annually, should it be approved by voters.   view article

Judson ISD and Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD are working to fund essential student and staff needs as they grapple with budget shortfalls. JISD’s original budget shortfall of nearly $36 million was offset by the use of disaster pennies, bringing the shortfall closer to $24 million. SCUCISD approved a budget with a nearly $11 million shortfall in the general fund and around $4 million shortfall in additional budgets. view article

The lottery allocates just over $2 billion annually to Texas schools, which covers about five days of a typical 180-day school year. This is a decrease from over 10 days' worth of funding more than 25 years ago, when the state lottery began operating at full capacity. view article

Another North Texas school district is considering closing campuses due to budget challenges and declining enrollment. Coppell ISD, located in the northwest corner of Dallas County, has several options on the table. view article

Kilgore ISD school board trustees voted at a recent meeting to approve a deficit budget and a lower tax rate for the upcoming school year. Chief Financial Officer Trish Hall told board members and faculty in attendance the district’s projected budget revenue for 2024-2025 was calculated at $38,390,571 and projected expenditures at $39,910,900. This leaves the upcoming year’s budget with a projected budget deficit of $1,520,329. The district’s budget is comprised of three components: the general fund budget, nutrition services budget and the debt service fund budget. view article

Faculty and staff in the Lubbock Independent School District, one of the city's largest employers, will be paying more for their health insurance next year after a Thursday school-board vote. The Lubbock ISD Board of Trustees voted to approve next year's employee premiums for the district's self-funded heath plans, all of which will increase in January. Under the initial proposal, premiums in some cases would be more than double the current cost, but the board opted to divide those increases over two years. view article

The lawmaker pointed to sharp increases in per-pupil spending and administrative staff positions in Texas schools over the last decade.   view article

The Arlington Independent School District says it must return about $6.5 million to the state after falling into recapture for the third straight year. It has to do with Texas' recapture law, which is intended to take extra revenue from "property-rich" districts and redistribute it to others who need the money. "The way we find ourselves in recapture is when our student enrollment goes down and our taxable values go up," explained Darla Moss, the district's chief financial officer. view article

The number of fines for breaking state campaign ethics laws has exploded in recent years as Ken Paxton’s office rarely pursues stricter enforcement.  n 1989, Bo Pilgrim, an East Texas chicken plant magnate, strolled the floor of the Texas Senate and dispensed $10,000 checks to nine members in an effort to stop a worker’s compensation bill from passing.  The scandal, dubbed “Chickengate,” was shocking but legal.  But the chicken man’s brazenness — what he called campaign contributions, many Texans saw as bribes — ruffled enough feathers to usher in a rare era of good government reforms.  Lawmakers would soon pass laws prohibiting themselves from accepting donations inside the Capitol and creating the Texas Ethics Commission, an independent body with investigative power, that would enforce the state’s campaign finance laws. view article