Officials are currently in the process of creating the budget for the next school year, an extensive process that takes six months, according to the GCISD website.
The district must approve the budget before June 19 since the 2024-25 fiscal year ends June 30.
What’s happening?
GCSD officials said at the April 14 work session they expect the deficit for the 2025-26 school year if there are no changes in the 89th Texas Legislature, which is currently ongoing.
The state hasn’t raised the basic student allotment, which determines how much money the district receives for student attendance, from $6,160 since 2019.
“What we’re experiencing here is better than most,” Johnson said. “That said, we have our challenges just like everybody else.”
For the 2025-26 school year, 87% of the district’s budget will go toward staff salaries, benefits, and overtime pay. The budget reflects plans to cut 25 staff positions next year.
GCISD is calculating its budget differently than previous years by doing a zero-based budget approach for non-staff expenses, which requires staff to work with each department to find out how much money they need for the school year.
“We looked at every single department,”Johnson said. “[Each department] built their budget from $0 [and] they detailed and justified each expenditure.”
The district will do the same zero-based budgeting process for campuses, Johnson said. The campuses will get a set amount of funding and then make a budget from $0 to ensure nothing is left out of the general operating budget for the district.
The zero-based budgeting process allows district staff to understand what each department needs so if cuts need to be made, those can be made with an informed perspective, Johnson said.
The details
GCISD expects to receive 84% of its operating revenue from the state, with sources coming from:
- Tax collections, including golden pennies, which is a voter-approved tax rate not affected by state recapture
- Tax Increment Financing revenue, which are property taxes from specific geographical commercial developments, including Grapevine Mills and retail along SH 26
- Interest income from invested revenue
- Various fees charged to the district, such as fees from the Early Childhood Development Center
- Federal School Health and Related Services, a federal program that reimburses districts for services provided to Medicaid-eligible special education students while they are at school
GCISD staff are also looking at additional funding sources, including partnering with businesses for revenue and increasing fees paid at the Early Childhood Development Center.
The district approved a contract April 28 with JSJD Media, LLC to place advertisements on 29 GCISD buses. This is expected to generate $12,000-$14,500 annually until the contract ends in 2031.
“We’re going to have to be creative,” GCISD board President Shannon Braun. “Whether it be through donations, whether it be through going out and getting sponsors for things, there are ways to overcome issues and problems, and those obstacles are not insurmountable.”
Diving deeper
Johnson said pending legislation in the 89th Texas Legislature could significantly impact GCISD’s budget. Under current law, the district expects $140.3 million in basic allotment funding.
If House Bill 3 passes, that could rise by $3.76 million to $144 million.
House Bill 2, approved by the Texas House on April 16, would increase the allotment by $395 per student, Community Impact previously reported.This could add an additional $5.95 million to GCISD, bringing the total revenue to $146.23 million, according to a study done by Moak Casey, a consulting business for Texas schools.
While the state requires some of this funding to go toward expenses like teacher raises, GCISD still anticipates a surplus of $723,926 under HB 3 and $2 million under HB 2, Johnson said.
Johnson reported that the 2024-25 fiscal year looks to be on track in terms of expected expenditures and revenue.
The district saved $2.21 million in 2024-25 by reducing staff, which is where the bulk of the budget goes toward, Johnson said.
The cuts included professional, paraprofessional and auxiliary workers such as teachers, custodians, campus technicians, directors and assistants, according to district documents.
Looking ahead
GCISD staff will present a preliminary budget to the board in May after the district receives preliminary tax values, Johnson said. Then staff will make adjustments following legislative outcomes.
A public hearing will occur in June and then the board will adopt the budget before the June 19 deadline.
The tax rate for the 2025-26 school year will be adopted in August or September, according to district documents.
