The details
The website, www.savekellerisd.net, provides a form where KISD residents can send an email to Abbott.
On the website, Save Keller ISD organizers state they believe the 88th Legislature failed to provide proper funding for public schools in Texas, preventing districts from overcoming significant challenges, including:
- Record inflation
- Unfunded mandates, which schools must cover, but for which the state has not provided adequate funding
- The "Robin Hood" recapture initiative, which sends property tax dollars within certain districts back to the state for redistribution to other districts
- Using a state school funding formula that has not been updated since 2019
For months, the KISD board of trustees and staff have been advocating for public school funding changes at the state level.
KISD interim Superintendent John Allison hosted a community budget education seminar on Nov. 29 that highlighted concerns for the fiscal year 2024-25 budget.
At that meeting, Allison said the district is having to absorb increased expenses in its budget with no additional funding from the state. To cover the increases caused by inflation, Allison said the basic allotment would need to increase from $6,160 to $7,100.
Allison also pointed out at that meeting that Texas is sitting on a $50 billion surplus.
“[The Legislature] could fund public [education] and still have a huge portion of historic budget surpluses,” Allison said. “To me, that borders on almost criminal.”
On Sept. 11, the KISD board of trustees approved a resolution to withhold the district’s 2024-25 recapture payment due Sept. 1.
At that meeting, board President Charles Randklev expressed the board’s main objection to sending millions of dollars back to the state through the recapture plan is there's no transparency about where those dollars are going.
“I want to be clear, nobody is talking about getting rid of recapture or getting rid of any sort of process that would help school districts that have issues raising funding,” Randklev said. “What we’re asking for is better transparency on how those dollars are being used.”
