The district’s sweeping reform program, known as the New Education System (NES), further complicates the financial landscape. According to The Houston Chronicle, Miles initiated discussions with principals at non-NES schools to allocate campus funding. The total budget for the 2024-25 school year is slated to be presented to the Board of Managers in May. Despite declining to provide an exact figure, Miles indicated a probable reduction from the previous year’s $2.2 billion budget to maintain a healthy fund balance. “Our task is not only to ensure a balanced budget, but also to prevent reaching a fiscal cliff,” Miles remarked, alluding to previous projections indicating the depletion of the rainy day fund by 2026. The state legislature’s failure to increase funding last year is putting HISD, like many other urban districts in a tougher predicament, since they are also facing the expiration of federal pandemic relief funds and diminishing student enrollment. Miles emphasized that the budget would prioritize key initiatives, including enhancing student achievement, addressing underperforming schools, and safeguarding magnet programs. view article

Beaumont — The Southeast Texas Family Resource Center is a home away from home for 85 Beaumont children who attend there every day. If the place did not exist, any of these boys and girls would arrive to empty apartments and houses, because their parents are still working when school lets out. Much of the progress these kids make in class is lost when they get home... view article

Katy ISD is gearing up to adopt a 2024-25 budget, but is facing financial strain without help from state legislation, Superintendent Ken Gregorski told parents this week. SIP N STROLL: Katy's biggest wine festival offers adults-only fun, with wine, beer and snacks included In an email to parents sent Tuesday, Gregorski blasted Texas legislators for failing to allocate funds to public schools, noting the district may be facing “a challenging budget situation” as a result. "Over the past few years, Katy ISD and public schools across Texas have faced significant budgetary difficulties due to insufficient state funding,” Gregorski said in the email. “Despite a Texas constitutional mandate for the ‘support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools,’ our legislature has continued to ignore its duty to increase public school districts’ primary source of funding per child — the basic allotment.” view article

Katy ISD Superintendent Ken Gregorski is sounding the alarm over a potential $13 million shortfall in the upcoming school year's budget, placing the blame squarely on Texas lawmakers for not stepping up on school funding. The district, known for its financial prudence, is now staring down the barrel of budget cuts and constrained resources. view article

As RISD faces a $28 million deficit, district leaders say Project Rightsize would reduce spending by nearly $10.8 million. During Thursday's School Board Meeting, the Richardson Independent School District voted unanimously on a proposal to close four elementary schools and a Pre-K campus to respond to a decline in enrollment and lack of state funding. view article

Richardson ISD board members voted to approve its plan to close four elementary school campuses and repurpose one pre-kindergarten campus on Thursday night District staff say they’re in a big budget deficit, that the district has lost more than 2,500 students since 2019 and hasn’t received more state funding per student since before COVID-19 despite inflation. view article

Katy ISD officials must make budget reductions as the district moves toward the 2024-25 school year, a move spurred by lack of state legislative action to increase public school funding, Katy ISD Superintendent Ken Gregorski said in a March 19 email to parents. In a nutshell During the board work study meeting March 18, district staff told KISD trustees the district could face a projected $13 million shortfall in the fiscal year 2024-25 budget. “Katy ISD is recognized as a state-acclaimed school district for fiscal integrity and responsibility,” Gregorski said in the email. “Though, like many other school districts, our district is approaching an increasingly difficult task of maintaining balanced budgets year after year. The state’s inaction on school funding has compelled districts throughout Texas to operate on deficit budgets.” This comes after trustees penned a resolution in December calling for state lawmakers to increase the basic allotment, which is the base amount of money schools receive per student. view article

The district says consolidating four schools and closing a fifth would allow it to save $10 million in operating costs. view article

It’s been four years since the shutdown of businesses and schools due to COVID-19. The effects of the pandemic are still being felt in public education, sometimes through declining enrollment numbers. Fewer students means less money to operate. Culwell Consulting CEO Curtis Culwell said, “COVID changed the dynamic of a lot of things that impact school enrollment and school attendance.” view article

Beaumont ISD has told parents it's considering closing one of its five middle schools for the next academic year. During its Thursday meeting, the Beaumont ISD Board of Trustees is set to vote on whether to close Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School for the 2024-25 school year, according to the agenda documents. Parents were informed of the possible changes in an email sent out on Tuesday evening. view article

Schools across the San Antonio area are searching for ways to slim down and cut costs as they prepare for one of the most challenging budget planning periods in recent history — marked by the loss of federal pandemic funding, declining enrollment and no new state funding. These decisions are pivotal, as district administrators and school boards weigh their budgetary requirements against the ongoing work to help students recover from the disruption caused by the pandemic. But the stakes are even higher at the two local districts under the direction of state-appointed conservators, who hold wide-ranging power to override or direct the actions of board members and district leaders. view article

COLDSPRING — The Coldspring-Oakhurst CISD will meet this week to discuss funding shortfalls created by a recent ruling by the State Comptroller’s Office. Superintendent Dr. Bryan Taulton said the district’s tax attorneys Perdue Brandon Fielder Collins & Mott will be fighting the decision regarding valuation, trying to get the district into an area that would not affect its income. Advertisement The State Comptroller’s Office performed a review in January of San Jacinto County Appraisal District’s property valuations, which led to a discrepancy that would mean school districts would receive less state aid. The more funding a district receives from property taxes, the less it receives in state aid; while the Appraisal District determined values of $564 million in the county, the Comptroller’s Office in its study determined values of $606 million. If the difference falls within 5 percent either way, there would be no change.   view article

Its recent move to let go of over 100 employees will save Fort Worth ISD more than $9.4 million, records show. At least 112 staff members with an average yearly salary of $84,571 have been cut from Fort Worth ISD as part of a layoff plan announced by district officials in February. Records obtained by the Fort Worth Report showed that the restructuring impacted technology positions the most, with IT specialists and data analysts among those laid off. view article

Coleman ISD could lose up to $500,000 in state funding this year. The State Comptroller on all school district property values recently released its report for the Property Value Study conducted for Coleman ISD. The results from that study estimates the school district will lose $500,000 in lost revenue for 2024. State law requires values to be at least 95% of sales prices but the report shows values are much lower than that requirement. view article

HISD reported an enrollment of about 183,900 in late October, a drop of more than 6,000 students since the 2022-23 school year and more than 30,000 students since the 2016-17 school year, when the district hit a 10-year peak of 216,106 students.  While annual enrollment data counts the number of students in a district on the last Friday of October, membership data reflects the number of students enrolled in the district on a specific day who have attended at least one day of school. HISD, for example, had 183,439 students attending school Feb. 23, a nearly 3% decline from the previous year. view article

Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD) announced on March 7 that it would be consolidating Wedgwood 6th Grade School with Wedgwood Middle School for the 2024-2025 school year. The decision to close Wedgwood 6th Grade came after layoffs that the district announced in late February. view article

The Texas Education Agency has awarded new Teacher Incentive Allotments to 778 Brownsville Independent School District teachers, bringing the number covered by the excellence program from 32 to 810. The TIA framework became law in 2019 under House Bill 3 to reward the best teachers in Texas with large pay increases based on performance. view article

According to district documents, these agreements will allow the school district to submit invoices to the city for reimbursement of costs related to the operation of facilities in two of the city’s reinvestment zones. The city’s reimbursement payments will allow district funds to be repurposed to pay the city of Grapevine for SRO expenses. While the two original tax increment reinvestment zones were created in 1996 and 1998 respectively, both were amended Feb. 20 to include costs associated with the operations of facilities in these zones. view article

Fort Worth ISD is saving more than $9.4 million through its recently announced layoffs, according to documents obtained through an open records request. The records detail how much money the district is saving after district officials did not provide an estimate. The documents also showed fewer employees laid off than originally announced. view article

TEXARKANA, Texas -- Local School Districts are feeling the sting in their budgets for Special Education funding due to a billing disagreement between state and federal governments going back to 2017. view article

Whether Texas school districts are large, medium or small, they’re now dealing with the same deficit dilemma –— fewer dollars for upcoming budgets. Several school districts this week discussed potential options for staving off looming multi-million dollar budget shortfalls. Argyle ISD’s superintendent Courtney Carpenter outlined the problem to her board members at a budget session Monday. “We have to build this upcoming budget, and essentially the following year's budget, with no additional revenue in public school funding,” she said, “because the legislature, the 89th Texas Legislative session, will not begin until January 14th of next year and will not end until June 2nd. view article

Whether Texas school districts are large, medium or small, they’re now dealing with the same deficit dilemma –— fewer dollars for upcoming budgets. Several school districts this week discussed potential options for staving off looming multi-million dollar budget shortfalls. Argyle ISD’s superintendent Courtney Carpenter outlined the problem to her board members at a budget session Monday. “We have to build this upcoming budget, and essentially the following year's budget, with no additional revenue in public school funding,” she said, “because the legislature, the 89th Texas Legislative session, will not begin until January 14th of next year and will not end until June 2nd. view article

The Houston Independent School District released its compensation plan for the 2024-2025 school year Tuesday. The plan outlines the salaries of HISD team members and what they will receive in the coming school year. “I am so pleased to say that many of those salaries are significantly higher than our surrounding districts,” said HISD’s Chief Human Resources Officer Jessica Neyman. view article

Dade Phelan, the Republican speaker of the Texas House, is headed to a runoff with his GOP primary challenger. As of 11 p.m. CST, Phelan trailed challenger David Covey 43% to 46%, according to election results posted by the Texas Secretary of State. Alicia Davis, a second challenger, garnered enough of the vote to keep both Phelan and Covey from getting the necessary 50% to avoid a runoff. There is no Democrat running, so the winner of the May runoff election will gain the seat. If he loses, Phelan would not only be ousted from his job as state representative. It would also create a leadership vacuum in the statehouse. The role of speaker is a powerful one, tasked with naming committee chairmen, setting policy priorities and helping steer bills through the legislative process. view article

Relief for property owners means Texas school districts face more revenue loss. Denton ISD administrators and trustees are looking at the possible impact of the most recent tax reform in the state. School taxes make up the lion’s share of Texans’ property tax bills. Texas voters approved Proposition 4 last November, passing a constitutional amendment that raises the homestead exemption from $40,000 to $100,000. Local school officials are working through the impact of the new reforms on Denton ISD’s debt service revenue. view article

Ads are on the airwaves and districts are encouraging families to vote because the candidates selected Tuesday could determine what happens to school vouchers.  DALLAS — The ad blanketing North Texas airwaves claims a Republican primary candidate is weak on border security -- but the organization that paid for the 30-second spot makes clear candidates who oppose school vouchers are its targets. It is just one example of how school financing has become a major issue in Tuesday's primary election, even if it is not explicitly on the ballot -- and polls as lower interest than other topics.  view article

Two years ago, finding themselves flush with federal cash, school districts across the country built out summer school programs, added after-school learning time and hired armies of tutors to work with students who lost ground academically during the pandemic. Now, facing the end of the federal COVID relief program, district leaders have to decide how many of the programs they started and the people they hired they can afford to keep. Many districts, including some in Tarrant County, have already begun cutting staff. Education finance experts say they expect those cuts to get deeper as school boards get further into their budget-making processes. “This will still be one of the largest ever one-time financial impacts to public education, at least that I’ve seen in my lifetime,” said Marguerite Roza, director of Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab.   view article

When you’re in trouble it’s best to ask for help. McAllen public school board members should do just that, and not be so hasty to bail out of promising cooperative agreements with the city of McAllen and other entities. McAllen Independent School District trustees voted 4-2 in January to reconsider their $4 million commitment to projects that would develop programs at the city-owned Quinta Mazatlan World Birding Center and the International Museum of Art and Science. view article

The good news: Austin ISD is on track to reduce its $52 million deficit by half by the end of the summer. The bad news: third-graders in special education are not learning fast enough. The district’s board of trustees dove into the details at its Feb. 22 meeting. Superintendent Matias Segura announced that the district has trimmed $26 million from the budget by leaving open positions unfilled, reducing overtime, and dropping unnecessary contracts. Chief Financial Officer Eduardo Ramos offered context, saying the general assumption that Texas would increase funding in the 2023 legislative session has proven false and now school districts across the state are announcing budget deficits. view article

The McAllen school board voted to terminate the contract regarding black box theaters for its high schools and to not proceed with the project due to budget constraints at a meeting Monday night. School board President Debbie Crane Aliseda said the project started back in 2020 and on June 13, 2022, the school board approved the request for proposals for the project and on May 8, 2023 approved a contract with Noble Texas Builders LLC to begin negotiations over the project. view article

Texas school districts received unwelcome news Dec. 15—they would lose about $300 million in Medicaid reimbursements for special education students through the state's School Health and Related Services program. The funding reduction comes as the Texas Health and Human Services Commission lost its yearslong appeal to the findings of a federal audit in October. In December, HHSC notified districts of how much their funding would be reduced as a result; however, some Central Texas school districts say they’re seeing additional funding cuts. view article

Paris ISD board members learned at Monday night’s board meeting that there was good news about the projected budget deficit. Based on tax assessments and collections, the deficit will be much lower. In other board meeting developments, Superintendent Althea Dixon reported to the board that a survey of 600 district employees showed they overwhelmingly favored implementing a 4-day work week. view article

Paris ISD board members learned at Monday night’s board meeting that there was good news about the projected budget deficit. Based on tax assessments and collections, the deficit will be much lower. In other board meeting developments, Superintendent Althea Dixon reported to the board that a survey of 600 district employees showed they overwhelmingly favored implementing a 4-day work week. view article

The Socorro Independent School District is considering layoffs, pay cuts and a tax ratification election that could increase property taxes amid a $33 million deficit. “We could be considering a reduction in force or reducing the number of employees through attrition. … A lot of what they’re discussing would be to save personnel costs by increasing class sizes,” SISD Superintendent Nate Carman said during a January board meeting. “Options could include zero raises for all employees pending additional state funding to balance out the budget.” view article

On Tuesday’s show: Duncan Klussmann, the former superintendent of Spring Branch ISD, explains the problems he has with how that school district is handling its current financial issues. Then, we revisit the case of Texas death row inmate Ivan Cantu, who is scheduled to be executed this week. And we visit a new art installation at the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern inspired by the classic children’s story The Velveteen Rabbit. view article