A survey published by the Texas Association of School Business Officials in May 2024 found that of the more than 300 districts it surveyed, more than half were expecting a Nearly 80 percent of districts participating in the survey reported challenges with deficit budgets or insufficient resources.
Nearly 80 percent of districts participating in the survey reported challenges with deficit budgets or insufficient resources.
That trend also seems to be true in Lubbock County. Lubbock Independent School District and Lubbock-Cooper ISD both adopted deficit budgets earlier this summer.
If a deficit budget persists, it could result in staff reductions, schedule changes, and cuts to programs and extracurriculars within the district.
While Frenship ISD passed a balanced budget, the district made an announcement this week, requesting a voter approval tax rate election (VATRE) and bond election, asking the community to contribute more to the district through taxation.
According to educators and advocates across the state, two major contributors to budget issues in Texas’ public schools are state spending not keeping up with inflation and increased requirements and mandates.
Basic allotment
Public school funding comes from local property taxes and from the state of Texas, with a small amount of money coming in from the federal government for the National School Lunch Program.
Lubbock ISD Superintendent Kathy Rollo said the state and local funding are added up to one limited supply for the district.
“The more money that you draw in from your local tax revenue, the less the state puts in,” Rollo explained. “If your district draws in less money in local tax values, then the state kicks in more money. So it's an even pot at all times.”
That “pot” is known as the basic allotment, which is the amount of funding each school district gets per student. That number has been $6,160 per student since 2019.
Lubbock-Cooper’s Superintendent Keith Bryant explained that even though Lubbock is growing, the restrictions of the basic allotment render that progress moot.
Bryant said: “We're really in a coffin. There's a base that we don't fall under, which is the basic allotment. But just because local taxes increase, either by a tax rate increase or increase in values, or all these new homes outside my window being built, and all the businesses coming in, as that local tax rate money increases, the state money decreases.”
The basic allotment is based on average daily attendance rather than enrollment, which is how districts have to build staffing models.
“If you're gonna have 24 kids in a physics class, you have to have a teacher for that,” he said. “And if only 22 of them show up every day, well, you still have to pay that teacher.”
Frenship ISD Superintendent Michelle McCord said that aside from debt, basic allotment pays for everything in a district, and many of those expenses are subject to inflation, including insurance, utilities and transportation, food, and supplies.
Mandates and security
State mandates are another “cost driver,” according to a report from the Texas Association of School Administrators and the Texas Association of School Boards.
Titled “Report on School District Mandates: Cost Drivers in Public Education,” the 2022 report details accountability and safety measures required by the state with the various cost factors they entail, such as increased employee workloads, the hiring of new employees, required trainings, and the purchasing of new supplies or equipment.
One particularly costly requirement for public school districts passed in 2019 as Texas House Bill 3. The mandate requires public school districts have at least one armed security officer on every campus during regular school hours.
The state government did grant districts funding along with the new mandate: $15,000 per campus and an additional 28 cents per student in average daily attendance. But it wasn’t enough to cover the cost, Lubbock superintendents said.
According to Superintendent Rollo, LISD implemented most of those required safety measures through a bond election in 2018.
“We've doubled our police force in the last six years since I've been in this role,” Rollo said. “We're still not enough where we have one on every campus, but we're working toward it.”
Lubbock-Cooper established a police department in the 1990s, according to Superintendent Bryant, and put an officer on every campus after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.
He said the district received $276,000 from the HB 3 allotment, but between salaries, equipment, and vehicles, the police department costs $1.2 million.
“We're not even paying a competitive salary for our officers,” Bryant said. “We're a million dollars a year short in what it takes to fund House Bill 3.”
McCord said Frenship ISD’s district police force costs millions of dollars, compared to the $360,000 granted with HB 3.
Further security measures at Frenship, such as silent panic alerts, were funded partially through a bond election in 2020.
The what and why of the budgets
Lubbock-Cooper ISD’s budget was approved in June. Superintendent Bryant said the total budget is around $110 million, with close to $80 million of that going toward operations. He said the remaining approximately $26-28 million come from voter-approved bonds.
Lubbock-Cooper adopted a deficit budget of around $6 million, according to Bryant. In his twenty years as a superintendent, this and last year were the first he’s had to recommend deficit budgets. Something he attributes to the Texas Legislature not granting increased funding for public education despite a $35 billion surplus.
“They had bills to put money in public education. But because the governor didn't get his voucher plan passed, he basically held hostage the funding for public schools,” Bryant said. “It falls squarely at the feet of the governor, that he was not going to allow legislation to move through if the vouchers didn't pass, and they didn't pass. So that's put us in a situation with our fixed costs out of control. We're gonna grow 300-something kids this year, and we did not grow any staff.”
READ: Texas lawmakers kick off a new season of heated debate over school vouchers
Of the more than 1,000 districts in the state of Texas, 75 are considered fast-growth districts. Two of those are here in Lubbock County: Lubbock-Cooper ISD and Frenship ISD.
Frenship’s Superintendent McCord said being fast-growth means having to project the number of new students and which schools they’re going to attend.
“We're predicting how many kids by grade level, where they’ll live, and how often they'll come to school,” she said. “In our opinion, it's better to end up with extra money at the end – because our attendance rate was higher – than get to the end and go, ‘Oh, dear, we had a really bad case of the flu this year, and so our attendance was lower than we expected.’”
With a new school opening each year for three consecutive years, McCord said the price of insurance and utilities goes up, along with replicating positions like principals, counselors, and custodians.
She said that the next legislative session in 2025 may determine whether or not Frenship will have to declare a deficit budget in the near future.
“If in this upcoming legislative session, we don't get additional funding, we will not be able to keep up with all the expenses,” McCord said.
Had the district given raises to meet the inflation rate, she said Frenship would be in a deficit budget. The voter approval tax rate election, which the board of trustees announced would be on the ballot in November, would allow the district to increase staff raises from the budgeted 2% average to an average 5%.
Along with VATRE, Frenship announced two bond proposals. One is mainly for construction and renovations, and the other for new technology.
While Lubbock-Cooper and Frenship ISD are growing in enrollment, Lubbock ISD is seeing a decline. Superintendent Rollo said some contributing factors are lower birth rates, students opting for charter or private school options, and an increase in homeschooling since the pandemic.
Having fewer students within attendance boundaries means that even as the largest district in the county, LISD is looking to increase attendance by attracting new students. It does this through specialty and magnet schools – which do not have boundaries – and specialized programs and classes.
LISD approved its budget in June, with a 2% raise for staff like teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses and ministers, and a 6% raise for paraprofessionals and police officers.
“However, with that being said,” Rollo started. “This is the first time in my 35 years as an educator that I've been in the district that we passed a deficit budget, of $8.6 million, which is 3.5% of our total overall budget.”
She said in addition to struggles with inflation and property insurance costs, the district has been affected by rising health insurance costs.
Despite the lack of state funding and struggles with teacher retention across Texas and the nation, Frenship’s Superintendent McCord said the community in West Texas is very supportive of public education.
“It's a graciousness in the people, a determination, maybe a little bit of that pioneer spirit, not waiting for the cavalry to come. Just like, okay, how do we figure this out? How do we come together?” McCord said. “Behind every successful school district, you will see a supportive community, because we can't do it without that.”
