This update from the district comes as administrators are tracking the current financial trajectory of GISD, as they begin preparing a budget proposal for the 2025-26 school year.
What you need to know
A combination of factors have reduced the district's projected shortfall of $4.5 million to fall to $0.9 million, GISD Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Hanna said in a Feb. 3 board workshop.
Higher than expected attendance rates and enrollment, as well as $2 million in additional revenue from the 2022-23 fiscal year from the Texas comptroller, helped shrink that gap, she said.
The details
Hanna said attendance rates were trending higher, at about 94%. This higher attendance rate was projected at a previous board workshop to net the district an additional $8 million in revenue, inclusive of the $2 million in additional local property tax revenue.
District documents also show enrollment is around 200 students higher than originally projected.
Remember this?
The district shared in November that attendance rates were already trending higher than expected, about 2% higher than originally projected for the 2024-25 school year. At the time, administrators said, if attendance remained closer to 94%, the district would be able to retain more of its local property tax revenue, despite paying a slightly higher amount in recapture back to the state.
Why it matters
In Texas, Tier 1 funding is the primary means of funding for public schools, and is based on the number and types of students in a school district. This part of the funding formula takes into account average daily attendance and the basic allotment, a per-student funding amount set by the state, among other factors.
The basic allotment was last increased to $6,160 per student in 2019, Hanna said in Novemeber. Were this amount to be adjusted for inflation—and give districts the same amount of purchasing power this amount had in 2019—she said the basic allotment would be $1,156 higher.
Looking ahead
Hanna also provided a preliminary budget outlook for the upcoming 2025-26 financial year, noting that a potential increase to the homestead exemption capping residential value at $140,000 has been floated at the Texas Legislature, which could have funding impacts for the district.
For the maintenance and operations part of tax collections, Hanna said, the state provides additional funding to offset the decrease resulting from an increase in homestead exemptions, as it did when it was raised in 2023.
This means funding for regular operations, which is generated by the maintenance and operations rate that is set for the district by the Texas Education Agency, would not be as strongly impacted. However, the interest and sinking portion of the rate, revenue from which is used to pay the district's debts, could be impacted, she said.
"When we have lower tax values on the I&S side, then we have less capacity to collect those taxes," she said. "We're definitely tracking that one."
Another concern for the upcoming school year is the opening of a charter school in August, Harmony Science Academy Georgetown, which will have a capacity for 750 students when it opens.
"We're not quite sure yet what that impact is going to be," she said.
What's next
The February budget update is one of several to be provided by administrators as they work to prepare a proposal for the 2025-26 financial year, Hanna said. The final proposal for the upcoming financial year, which begins July 1, will be presented to the board in June.
