Richardson ISD Board of Trustees were updated on federal grant funding during the April 3 meeting.
Superintendent Tabitha Branum also said it is currently unknown how changes to the Department of Education at the federal level will impact RISD.
By the numbers
Denise Beutel, executive director for grants and federal programs for RISD, said the district received $23.871 million in recurring federal funding in fiscal year 2024-25 against a total general fund expenditure of $403 million, according to the presentation. Excluding Every Student Success Acts grants include various titles such as Title I, which is used to ensure fair and equitable education is available for students.
In the 2022-23 school year, the district received $22 million, and $21 million in the 2021-22 school year.
Additionally, In fiscal year 2024, the district received $14.6 million, which is not included in the recurring figure, for the child nutrition fund, with total expenses at $17.995 million.
Title I funding for the 2024-2025 fiscal year totaled $10.573 million with the previous year’s amount totaling $10,271 million.
Title II, which is used to fund professional learning and development for educators, totaled $739,205 for the 2024-2025 year, down from the $1.4 million received in 2023-2024.
In a nutshell
Beutel said federal grants are given to the Texas Education Agency, which then acts as a pass-through entity to distribute the funds to school districts, which must apply for them.
There are two types of grants, Beutel said, formula grants, which are awarded to districts based on the percentage of students that fall into particular populations, and discretionary grants, which fall into competitive and non-competitive categories. Formula grants include special education, career and technical education and ESSA fundings.
What else?
Assistant Superintendent David Pate said trustees do not adopt a budget for most federal grants, with the exception being the Child Nutrition Fund. Additionally, the district is reimbursed for many federal grants, meaning it must have a healthy fund balance to pay for expenditures that are later reimbursed following an application process.
