Check out the latest updates from Eanes and Lake Travis ISD's December board meetings, including EISD's budget optimization survey and LTISD's pre-K program expansion.

Eanes ISD receives community feedback on budget optimization plans

Following the Eanes ISD board of trustees’ Nov. 18 discussion on four potential budget optimization packages, a ThoughtExchange survey opened from Nov. 20-Dec. 5 to gauge the community's thoughts on potential next steps to reduce future projected multimillion dollar budget shortfalls.

The details

The survey saw 1,856 participants including parents, secondary students, staff members and community members provide 1,079 thoughts and 40,423 ratings.


Key takeaways from the survey included:
  • 579 participants rated the importance of EISD prioritizing a balanced budget a ‘3’ on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being not important at all and 5 being extremely important
  • Participants' top 3 ranked principles to guide budget reduction decisions were minimizing impact on the classroom with 760 votes, providing competitive compensation to staff with 205 votes and protecting advanced academic programs with 137 votes
  • On a scale of 1-5, 24% of participants rated they were not at all likely to support a Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election with a 1; 11% rated they were extremely likely to support with a 5; and 33% rated a 3
Former interim superintendent Tom Trigg said the survey results will help administration modify the proposed budget packages ahead of the Jan. 13 board meeting, where the board could wrap up budget optimization discussions in order to vote on a plan at its Jan. 27 meeting.

Read more here.

Lake Travis ISD to expand pre-K program to West Cypress Hills, Lakeway elementaries

Lake Travis ISD officials are planning to expand the district's pre-K program in 2026-27 with more classrooms and campuses.


The gist

LTISD currently serves about 194 pre-K students across Serene Hills, Lake Travis and Lake Pointe elementary schools, said Lyndsae Benton, executive director of curriculum and instruction.

The expansion will include a new program with multiple classrooms at West Cypress Hills Elementary and Lakeway Elementary, and additional classrooms according to capacity and need at Serene Hills, Lake Travis and Lake Pointe.

The district has consistently had a waitlist for this program. According to Benton, there were 119 students waitlisted this school year and 121 students waitlisted last year.


"Our goal is to accommodate the entire waitlist," Benton said.

Read the full story here.