The Leander ISD school board approved the purchase of two new diesel-fueled school buses May 3, each costing $92,000. The money comes from the capital replacement reserve fund—a $3.5 million savings account supported by the district's previous budget surpluses.

Ellen Skoveria, assistant superintendent of business and operations, said the money was set aside for future "big-ticket" purchases. The board voted to use the reserve funds rather than draw money from the general maintenance and operations budget.

"The funds were set aside for that purpose, and we use them sparingly. At this point in the budget, we don't see having excess funds," she said. "For me to say that's coming from M&O, knowing that's the same as three teachers, I just don't think I can say we're well enough off at this point."

The board discussed the difference between using diesel- and propane-fueled buses. Though propane fuel is half the cost of diesel, propane-fueled buses cost approximately $15,000 more than diesel-fueled buses, according to city staff. LISD received grants for previous propane-fueled bus purchases, Superintendent Bret Champion said.

Other highlights from the May 3 meeting:

Data warehouse

As discussed at the April 19 meeting, the board approved spending $680,440 on a data warehouse—a digital database used for data reporting and analysis. LISD could have spent up to $2 million in 2007 bond funds for improvements to the district's information systems, according to district documents.

Staff purchased consulting and programming services from Decision Ed Group Inc.— a data warehouse vendor—and licensing for the design, development and implementation of the data warehouse, reporting and analytics from IBM Congos.

The data warehouse is intended to sort and store student and staff information, which district administration can later analyze.

Dress code

The school board directed staff to continue soliciting feedback from parents and campus administration regarding the district-wide dress code. Recent input indicated a desire for more specificity and direction from the district.

Budget forecast

Skoveria told the board that property values in the district increased by about 3.5 percent, a sign LISD will have more money once taxes are collected. She said much of the growth was new property but noted that some existing property values decreased.