Budget Reductions

Guiding Principle: Protect quality of the learning environment and instruction

• Action:  Continuing to Review Central Office Positions as they come open and identify reductions in both payroll and non-payroll budgets.  Departments impacted the most by this:  Technology, Facilities, and Learning & Teaching
  • Over the last four years approximately 30 positions have been closed down, with an additional 30 positions this school year.  Any growth in support positions has occurred in the areas of Special Education, Safety and Security, Child Nutrition, and Counselors.

Guiding Principle: Safety and Security of Students and Staff

• Action:  Maintain the $6M investment in our safety and security program which the state only funds $1.5M for required mandates.

• Minimize negative impacts to students
• Be intentional in the opportunities and pathways for students to be successful

Guiding Principle: Increasing efficiency of course offerings and electives as overall student enrollment is stabilizing 

• Action: Analyze Lower Enrollment HS Electives; Efficiency in MS and HS Schedules

Guiding Principle: Right-sizing facilities to enrollment/creating levels of efficiencies for buildings:  

• Action: Creating a Community Efficiency Committee to study enrollment and facility efficiency bring recommendations before the Board in Fall 2024.  Applications and Committee Selection Begin April 2024.  Meetings throughout end of Spring, Summer, and  Fall

Guiding Principle: Do our best to make any reductions through attrition as certification allows.

• Action: Right Sizing Campus Staffing to Enrollment Decrease

Guiding Principle: Protecting and preserving the intellectual capital and expertise that has built the systems of LISD to be the exceptional provider of education in our community.

• Action: Middle school core content teachers will teach 7 out of 8 periods and we will no longer double block ELA with 90 minutes. This is estimated to put the district on a path of saving $8M.

The Basic Allotment established by the Legislature that determines per pupil funding for public schools has not been changed from $6,160 per student since 2019.  Significant inflationary costs that have risen since 2019 are impacting school district budgets. Average inflation since 2019 has increased by 22%, in order to have the same buying power in 2023 the basic allotment would need to increase to $7,515. Learn more about the Basic Allotment HERE.

The VATRE did help reduce the deficit from $48M to $17M for FY 24. We appreciate our voters approving the .08 cents on the tax rate in the November 2023 election. While the legislature did not increase the Basic Allotment, they did put $1.2B towards increasing the amount of money school districts can receive when their voters approve additional pennies through a VATRE. You can learn more about a VATRE HERE. 

No. Changes in teacher staffing will occur through attrition (when a position becomes vacant). 

No. If an elective is no longer able to be offered a teacher will have a chance to earn a certification in another content area.

Bond funds cannot be used for daily operations of the school district, which means you cannot pay for teacher salaries with bond funds. Bond funds provide for facility maintenance, repairs and renovations. To learn more about the difference between bond funds and daily operation funds learn about the buckets of school funding HERE.

The district receives financial ratings from the state of Texas in the FIRST system. In order to earn the highest financial rating a district must maintain 25% of expenditures in fund balance. This translates to approximately 3 months of expenditures in reserves. Three months of expenditures for LISD would be approximately $131M dollars and the LISD fund balance currently has approximately $132M in reserves.

These figures are not an accurate representation of what a district has available to spend on daily operations.  They include bond funds and retirement funds (TRS on-behalf).  Additionally, this figure includes money that is generated from a VATRE, which not every district has, and those are funds voted on by local communities. Finally, these figures also include COVID relief funds (ESSER) that districts no longer have access to. 

Unfortunately, LISD is a recapture district, which means that the amount of money in tax collections exceeded what the state school finance formula indicates that LISD is entitled to receive. Our district sent $65M back to the state of Texas in FY 23 and is expected to send $12M back in FY 24. To learn more about recapture click HERE.