The revelation came during a July 14 budget discussion, when PfISD Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Land said she is "99.999% sure" the district will become subject to state recapture, which is a state policy of taking revenues from wealthier districts within a system more informally referred to as "Robin Hood."
In June, Land said the district would likely pay about $17.68 million in recapture to the state.
Even though the status change means more money will be taken from district coffers, Land, a discussion of deficit mitigation measures proposed during a June 16 regular meeting gave officials reasons to be optimistic.
One strategy Land proposed in June that she said could provide some budget relief would be to initiate another tax ratification election, or VATRE, for November.
Notably, officials initiated a VATRE last November, but the measure failed. Trustee and board President Vernagene Mott said this time, the district needs to become much more savvy about marketing the election.
"I think we need to creatively talk about who the key influencers are in our community and see what we can do as a team working with community folks to educate them," Mott said. "They will make their decision, but ... it's up to all of us to help educate in that area."
For the 2022-23 school year, Land said the projected shortfall without a VATRE is $11.2 million, depending on certified tax values that the district will receive by the end of July.
Despite what appears to be an imminent change for PfISD to become a recapture district, Land maintained a successful VATRE could bring the deficit to as low as $3.7 million.
Land said other measures to help curb the 2022-23 shortfall include increasing secondary class size ratios, personnel reductions to coincide with dips in enrollment, the implementation of federal COVID-19 assistance and a delayed opening of a new campus in eastern Pflugerville called Hidden Lake Elementary.
"I've talked about the budget shortfall, and I've mentioned earlier that unfortunately, the numbers that I have been showing you—they could get worse," Land said. "So, in anticipation of the challenges that we have, we have taken some steps to address this shortfall. We are making tough decisions daily."
With regard to the current school year, last fall Land projected a deficit of about $20 million by the end of the 2021-22 school year. However, financial staff has been whittling that figure down through several cuts, and the deficit sits at $12.9 million, she said, adding that figure could go up or down by the end of the fiscal year in September.
PfISD budget discussions will continue through August, and the budget and tax rate must be set and passed by Aug. 22, which is also the deadline to call a VATRE, according to district officials.
