The details
The board approved an over $377 million budget at a June 23 board meeting. The budget includes funding coming from local, state, federal and other sources, as well as fund balance funds.
Over $267 million will be allocated to the general fund budget, $14 million to the food service budget and $95.6 million to the debt service budget.
Expenditures include expenses such as payroll, supplies and materials and operating costs.
Because the trustees adopted a balanced budget, that means expenditures are equal to the amount of revenues and the district is not anticipating a deficit.
This is a change from the previous $14 million shortfall the district had earlier this month. Superintendent Eric Wright said the administration was able to reclassify positions that were incorrectly coded into the payroll system, bringing the deficit to $11.4 million.
The district will use fund balance funds to address the remaining $11.4 million deficit, Budget Director Alex Salazar said.
Salazar said that the remaining fund balance will stand at around $20 million.
Learn more about how the district got here through previous reporting by Community Impact.
Legislative impact
The approved budget only included detailed pay changes for teachers with three or more years of experience because of House Bill 2.
The new legislation through HB 2 would give DSISD teachers annual salary pay increases depending on years of experience:
- $2,500 salary increase for teachers with 3 to 4 years of experience
- $5,000 for teachers with 5 or more years of experience
Wright said while the budget has money allotted for staff raises, specifics on how that is divided will be decided likely later in July.
Aside from teacher-specific pay increases, the bill also includes raising the basic allotment, or the per-student funding amount school districts receive, by $55, increasing the current basic allotment to $6,215. Additional funding includes funding for school safety, special education, other non-administrative staff and more.
Looking ahead
District officials are anticipating budget amendments in July to account for staff compensation changes and additional state information, such as property values.
The board of trustees will adopt a tax rate in the late summer, likely in August, once they get more tax rate information from the Texas Education Agency, Wright said.
