For the 2018-19 fiscal year, HCISD is implementing a zero-based budgeting methodology this year—meaning all costs must be justified and beneficial to the district.
Superintendent Eric Wright and the financial team evaluated $15 million across 53 departments to establish what is best for HCISD schools while addressing budget priorities of student achievement and safety, opening two new schools and funding salary increases.
With a 55 percent increase in student enrollment over the past 12 years, projections show that enrollment will increase by more than 200 students bringing the enrollment number to 20,164 students for the 2018-19 school year.
Meeting highlights:
Security initiatives and tax rate
While the maintenance and operations tax rate—$1.04 per $100 valuation—and the interest and sinking tax rate—$0.4977 per $100 valuation—have not changed for the past several years, there is preliminary talk about a potential tax ratification election in August to increase the maintenance and operations tax rate to either $1.05 or $1.06 per $100 valuation.
Administration is considering adding additional safety services, such as hiring behavior specialists at every campus as a proactive safety approach, funding a student accountability system for transportation and hiring more school resource officers.
On-site law enforcement could potentially deter possible threats on campuses and shorten response time; however, there would be an estimated $2.5 million annual, recurring cost taken out of the general fund if approved.
Board of trustees President Meredith Keller said she wanted student safety to be a top priority but asked staff to see if there are other ways to fund the increased security.
“I want [school resource officers] on every campus. [But,] I would like to pay for it without a tax ratification election,” Keller said. “I do think we need to put safety first, but I think we need to do it with the budget we already have. How can we pay for this stuff without additional taxes?”
Trustee Willie Tenorio said the public may be amenable to a tax rate increase if they knew the money was being set aside for student safety.
If the school district were to increase the tax rate to $1.05, it would bring in an added $2.7 million in revenue including the additional tax revenue for district options and state funding due to the tax rate increase.
If the tax rate were to increase to $1.06, it would give the the district an additional $4 million to the general fun, which Wright said would be earmarked for campus safety initiatives
A tax rate election would be held in August if the trustees decide to pursue increasing the tax rate.
Staffing
To save a projected $1.1 million dollars, it has been proposed that HCISD reorganize the administration and central offices into instructional vertical teams and consolidate positions.
Superintendent Eric Wright said certain vacant positions will be left unfilled and eventually cut from the program due to attrition.
“More is less. We will be moving people around, and multiple people will be wearing multiple hats instead of one but we feel that is the way to get the best use of our staff,” Wright said.
As for campus staffing, elementary school teachers may see a slight increase in class size next year.
To accommodate 30 full-time equivalents, kindergarten through fourth grade would have a target class size of 22 students, and fifth grade would have a target size of 25 students. In 2017, the average class sizes for HCISD kindergarten-fourth grades was approximately 17 students, and fifth grade was about 20 students per class.
Compensation
The financial team suggested allocating funds to increase salaries by 3 percent and consider a system that would offer a larger salary increase for teachers with five or more years of experience. Chief Finance Officer Annette Folmar said the theory behind offering larger salary increases for teachers with more experience is to attract veteran teachers to the district and then support them financially and professionally so they stay within the district.
It was also suggested that compensation for substitute teachers increase from $90 to $100 per day.
Revenue projections
As of April 26, Folmar said the projected budget revenue for 2018-19 to be $161 million—a $5 million increase from last year and budget expenditures to be $168 million—an $8 million increase from last year.
Tax revenue is projected to bring in an estimated $77 million while state funds will bring in $75 million, a $2.4 million decrease from last year. Folmar also said there is an expected $625 million increase for adjusted taxable values for 2018-19.
On the expenditure side, budget initiatives include funding for special education, district and student programs, campus security and staffing.
The district is also attempting to cut nearly $2.7 million from its deficit by eliminating certain software support programs, utilizing Title I funds—federal money set aside for schools with 40 percent or more of students coming from low-income families— or supplemental support at campuses, reducing a few service contracts and consolidating the duties of central administration.
On April 30, chief appraisers will certify the initial estimates of taxable values. From there, the trustees will continue budget discussions on May 22 at their board workshop. Publishing the approved proposed tax rates, public hearings on the proposed budget and tax rates, and budget and tax rate adoption will happen in August.
