The district’s budget comes with already-made operational changes, from staffing to student schedules for the upcoming school year.
The overview
The board of trustees voted 6-1 to adopt the budget including $88,058,849 from combined state, local and federal revenues, or income. The district anticipates $94,648,852 in expenditures.
Expenditures include costs for instruction, curriculum and staff development, guidance and counseling, general administration and more.
With expenditures projected to come in higher than revenues, that leaves the district with a $6,590,003 shortfall to come from reserve funds, according to district documents.
The new budget comes from one of two proposals district officials presented to the trustees—one including additional costs for employee health insurance, and the other maintaining the district’s current costs for insurance.
Health insurance through the Teacher Retirement System of Texas will increase by $39 dollars for FY 25-26. SMCISD currently pays $445 per employee, resulting in no-cost. However, the board of trustees voted for the district to cover the new $484 per employee insurance cost.
Trustee Cain said SMCISD should take on the additional cost as employees have already faced cuts and many are not positioned to earn a raise.
“We had many conversations about this particular issue...and heard repeatedly the importance of not adding additional costs to our staff and faculty when we’re already not doing raises and we’ve made cuts,” she said.
McLoughlin said that he voted against the second option on “alternate grounds,” and not because of the additional insurance expenses.
House Bill 2 includes dedicated funding for teacher pay raises, depending on years of experience.
As a district with over 5,000 students, SMCISD teachers with three to four years of experience would receive a $2,500 raise to their annual salary. Teachers with five years or more experience would receive a $5,500 raise, as previously reported by Community Impact.
Trustees said budget amendments will be made in August following more information on legislative requirements, property values and the Texas Education Agency’s maximum compressed rate.
Board President Anne Halsey said a separate board meeting would be needed to discuss amending the budget to include raises for other district staff.
The background
District administration made changes to multiple staffing positions ahead of budget adoption and the upcoming school year.
For example, SMCISD officials eliminated 37 teachers due to not meeting teacher certification requirements within the required TEA deadline, district officials said.
Additional eliminations include, but are not limited to:
- One Goodnight Middle School assistant principal
- One Miller Middle School assistant principal
- One San Marcos High School assistant principal
- Two information literary specialists, or librarians
- 16.5 central office staff positions; note, a half position means half of the position was funded through other sources than the district, such as a grant, according to SMCISD officials
Chief of Communications Andrew Fernandez said that while positions were eliminated, some employees were able to continue employment with the district through realigning their position. For example, the librarian positions at DeZavala and Rodriguez Elementaries were eliminated, but the employees will now split their duties between the campuses and alternate schedules, he said.
Other positions were eliminated “due to the number of students in the program,” meaning there was not enough interest in the program, district officials said. Those positions include:
- One Goodnight MS assistant band director
- One Miller MS assistant band director
- One Miller MS guitar teacher
- One SMHS criminal justice teacher
Deputy Superintendent Dr. Terrence Sanders said that while positions were eliminated, most of the programs will continue. However, the criminal justice program will not continue due to low interest, Sanders said at a June 2 special board meeting.
Other reductions include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Parent liaison positions, reduced from 10 to two
- Gifted and Talented full time employees, reduced from seven to four
- Instructional coaches, reduced from 21 to nine
Additionally, elementary nurse assistants were reduced from seven to two positions because grant funds from the COVID-19 pandemic have expired, officials said.
The SMHS College Career and Military Readiness Coordinator duties were reassigned at the campus level “due to duplicate services,” according to the June 2 presentation.
Eliminated employees were invited to apply to open positions if they met qualifications, according to agenda documents. Fernandez said that some employees have already moved to the open positions, but it is unclear how many eliminated employees were able to be re-employed by the district.
What else?
The district will change middle school class schedules in the 2025-26 school year to adjust for staffing and to improve student outcomes, officials said.
Sixth grade reading and English Language Arts, seventh grade math, and eighth grade English Language Arts will implement double blocks, Sanders said, resulting in about 90 minutes of class time in these courses.
With more sections of English and math, that can impact staff availability for electives, said Stephanie Muñoz, SMCISD chief human resource officer.
Class sizes will also be changed in an effort to reduce the number of teachers needed for additional classes and “to maintain long-term financial sustainability,” Muñoz said at a May 19 board meeting.
Class sizes will be at a 22-to-1 student-teacher ratio for kindergarten through second grades and and 25-to-1 for third through fifth grades, Fernandez said.
Looking ahead
Trustees will reconvene in August for a special board meeting Aug. 4.
- Special board meeting, Aug. 4 at 6 p.m.
- Felipe Reyna SMCISD Administration Building, 1331 TX-123, San Marcos
