NISD officials will hold a Facebook Live discussion at 6 p.m. April 23 regarding the ongoing Texas school funding crisis and how the district is eliminating a roughly $16 million deficit.

The gist

According to a district news release, NISD leaders will provide a brief update about the district at the beginning of the event and will respond to audience questions at the end.

The news release states NISD’s Facebook Live video chats typically last about 30 minutes. For questions that are not answered during the video chat, the district provides written responses within the week.

To participate in the video chat, interested parties can join the Northwest ISD Facebook page on the social network’s website or mobile app.

The backstory

Northwest ISD board members heard from Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Pastusek April 7 at their regular board meeting as he presented an update on the district’s efforts to reduce its $16 million deficit.

In addition to proposing the elimination of 75 teaching positions, Pastusek said more than $3 million in non-payroll reductions is being targeted.

In order to trim the deficit even further, reductions to administrative and support would total approximately $6 million. Potential changes and cuts include:

• Ratio/matrix changes to administrative positions
• Model changes for intervention, English as a Second Language and Gifted and Talented specialists
• Elimination of AVID classes, reading recovery and explorations class

Pastusek said as of March 31, he and his staff have been able to whittle down the deficit to just under $1 million from the $16 million deficit at the start of the process. In addition to the $11.7 million in payroll deductions, there are $3.4 million in proposed cuts to non-payroll costs, bringing the total amount of reductions to just over $15 million.

“We didn’t cut to the bone, but we’ve cut really deep,” Pastusek said.