As Frisco ISD continues to grow it will face several fiscal challenges in the coming year, district staff told the board of trustees during Monday night's meeting. New CFO Kimberly Pickens gave the board a presentation on the district's preliminary budget projections for the 2016-17 school year. Pickens told the board that this month district staff will work to develop initial estimates of staff allocations related to student growth. From now until June, Pickens said staff will finalize revenue and expenditures estimates. In June, district staff will finalize a proposed tax rate and hold a public hearing for the budget and tax rate adoption. Frisco ISD budget preparation and adoption timeline presented at Monday's board meeting.[/caption] As the student population continues to increase, Pickens said that will increase staff needs and operational costs. She said the district will need to continue to maintain competitive salaries and benefit packages for teachers and other staff. Pickens also spoke about the district losing a projected $30 million because of the state cutting the Additional State for Tax Reduction—or ASATR—fund. The fund will completely phase out in the 2017-18 school year. The net revenue per student is expected to go from $7,894 in 2016-17 to $7,597 in 2017-18 from the elimination of ASATR. Trustee John Classe said the board's No. 1 priority in the last legislative session was to protect ASATR to ensure FISD did not lose funding. No action was taken and the district staff will return in April to present preliminary budget to the board.