The big picture
Eanes ISD adopted a Fiscal Year 2024-25 budget in June with a $1.2 million shortfall. Part of the district’s expenditures include personnel expenses, which included a 2% pay increase for staff and anticipated increases in employee health care costs, and $94.7 million in recapture payments to the state.
Lake Travis ISD was initially projected to adopt its largest budget shortfall in recent years at $6.68 million. In August, LTISD adopted its FY 2024-25 budget with a $4 million shortfall after making nearly $2.85 million in cuts to vacant positions and contracted services—around 42% of which were related to special education, district officials said.
A closer look
In Eanes ISD, the middle school Latin course is being phased out and the part-time fine arts director position was not renewed for the 2024-25 school year.
Superintendent Jeff Arnett said the decision to phase the course out wasn’t entirely in response to budget cuts, but rather declining enrollment. This year, there weren’t enough students to justify offering it at the seventh grade level, he said.
“We're always, every year, trying to gauge what is the interest in a particular course,” Arnett said. “If there aren't enough students to enroll in that course, then we do have conversations about the economics and the inefficiency of continuing to offer a course for such a small number of students.”
While the course is still available to eighth graders this school year, it is set to be phased out by next year. The program will remain in place in high school.
Similarly, Arnett said the fine arts director position was not a direct response to budget cuts, but of restructuring.
After the former director retired in May and a high school assistant principal left, the district was able to create the Dean of Arts and Student Life position at the high school, and also hired a new director of bands.
In doing so, Arnett said the district is not increasing its administrative footprint but being creative with how its leadership structure is organized.
In LTISD, the district cut around $2.15 million in positions that were unfilled or no longer needed. The cuts come as staffing is starting to improve years following the coronavirus pandemic and follow a staffing study that was conducted for special education positions last year.
Additionally, the district reduced its contracted services for special education and grounds. electricity and custodial services by $700,000. LTISD hired some of its employees to replace contracted services as they can cost the district twice or three times as much as paying district staff, said Pam Sanchez, LTISD's assistant superintendent for business services.
Of the $2.85 million in overall cuts, around $1.2 million were related to special education positions and contracted services while other campus and department budgets were reduced by $1.6 million.
“We will hurt with our infrastructure,” Sanchez said about the budget cuts. “We won't be able to keep up with those other positions that support the classroom and support our student programs, because there is just no room in the budget for that.”
Going forward
Arnett said there are many programs that Eanes has traditionally offered that the community has come to expect. However, the district is having to balance those expectations with increasing financial constraints and is on the brink of having to “make some difficult decisions.”
“We went into this current fiscal year believing that we were going to be able to manage our deficit at a fairly reasonable level,” Arnett said. “But since the budget was approved, we've gotten more information—whether it be lowered assessed valuation, lowered interest rates, enrollment perhaps that's not where we had hoped it would be—those are all factors that are beyond our control. [Chief Financial Officer] Chris [Scott] has to manage that alongside the budget that was approved by the board, and also the possibility that we're not going to see increased funding from the state.”
Scott said the formula for the district’s primary funding source, the basic allotment, has not been updated since 2019.
“Inflation since that time has made things, including our biggest expense, which is labor, [go] up significantly,” Scott said. “By finding efficiencies where we can, by finding other sources of revenue where we can, we're reaching the limits of what we can do there. We are making contingency plans on things that we're going to have to look at in the future if things don't change.”
Amid stagnant state funding, LTISD changed its fiscal year from Sept. 1 to July 1, which will provide the district a one-time payment of $10 million and help relieve future budget deficits, Sanchez said.
LTISD officials will continue to monitor and may amend the FY 2024-25 budget depending on where student services are needed or if more special education students are identified, she said.
