With key funding decisions still pending at the 89th Texas Legislature, board President Kristin Tassin and Superintendent Marc Smith laid out the impact of underfunded state mandates and how those financial pressures are shaping the projected $16 million shortfall for the 2025-26 school year.
Assessing the need
Tassin said while the state mandates services including special education programming and full-day Pre-K for eligible students, the funding provided does not match the district’s expenditures.
She said the state only funds about 34%-35% of the district's expenses for special education and about 50% for pre-K services, causing general funds to be redirected toward mandated services.
With increased state funding of special education, which cost the district $36 million annually from the general fund, the district could resolve the shortfall estimates for the coming year, Tassin said.
“This is money that must be redirected from the general classroom budget to meet state-mandated services,” Tassin said. “If [the state] just funded special education, we wouldn’t have to look at cuts.”
While Tassin said funding has not kept up with the rate of inflation— a sentiment shared by many education advocates— Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in an interview with Community Impact that funding for education is higher than it's ever been, with over $80 million from the state and $96 billion from the federal government.
“So school districts should not be cutting their budgets, and if they are, it's either an anomaly in the system, or it's because they hired too many people with [COVID relief] money that was going to go away,” he said.
Smith and Tassin noted the following bills are still pending in the Legislature and encouraged community members to follow the developments:
- House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 1, which are budgeting plans that provide funding for school safety in addition to proposals for school-choice voucher programs
- Senate Bill 26, which could provide FBISD educators $2,500-$5,500 raises depending on experience
- House Bill 2, which passed the House April 16 and would increase the basic student allotment by $395 and additional funding for staff raises and special education
FBISD is required to adopt its fiscal year 2025-26 budget by June, although the final outcome of the legislative session may not be known before that deadline, Smith said. However, he said district leaders have to plan regardless of state funding, as it’s not guaranteed.
“While we are hopeful with maybe some cautious optimism, we also know there's still a possibility that maybe there won't be any new funding coming out of this session,” Smith said. “So we have to plan for that.”
Smith noted FBISD could utilize a one-year tax rate increase, or "disaster pennies," without holding an election. This was permitted by the state following Hurricane Beryl’s impact on the region last July.
Next steps
Tassin said the board will continue to provide budget updates at each board meeting and encouraged community members to stay informed and engaged as the legislative session concludes.
“Regardless of how things shake out in Austin or anywhere else, we're going to keep doing what we do, and we're going to focus on the things that we can control,” Tassin said.
