The state entered the 88th Legislature with nearly $33 billion in its coffers and a list of funding plans for public schooling. However, beyond a few small examples, larger funding bills have yet to materialize, said Bob Popinski, senior director of policy for Raise Your Hand Texas, a nonprofit education advocacy group.
“It was a session out of balance,” Popinski said. “It was absolutely surprising. ... All the recommendations ended up failing.”
The overview
Multiple school districts across the state are either proposing or approving budget shortfalls for the 2023-24 school year. This is due to a number of economic factors, such as inflation, which has driven up operating costs, as well as state and federal money drying up that was tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, Popinski said.
On the other side of that issue is an ongoing national teacher shortage with budget issues making it more difficult to increase compensation and retain teachers.
Nearly all proposals aimed at increasing school funding in the legislative session ended up on the cutting room floor, Popinski said. Among those included proposals to increase teacher pay and the per-student allotment funding given to school districts.
The statewide per-student allotment sits at $6,160 and has not been increased since House Bill 3 passed in 2019, Popinski said. The state would need to add roughly $1,000 this year to the allotment to match inflation.
How we got here
Due to high rates of inflation in recent years—totaling about 18.5% from April 2019-April 2023, according to the Texas comptroller’s office—school districts have had trouble keeping up with rising costs of their operations.
According to budget documents from districts in Community Impact’s coverage areas, some of those items affected by inflation include fuel for buses, supplies for schools, teacher pay, property insurance and food.
On the state side, many funding bills failed because of efforts to tie them to a private school voucher program as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s goal to make private institutions more affordable to families in Texas. The program didn’t garner enough support in the Legislature, blocking many bills from passing that otherwise might have had the needed votes, Popinski said.
Put into perspective
While they wait for potential state action, school district officials this summer are approving new budgets—some of which are still anticipating help from the state.
In a public hearing for the 2023-24 budget Aug. 1, Conroe ISD’s board of trustees discussed challenges such as keeping up financially with the district’s unprecedented growth, lack of funding for teacher raises and high inflation.
State funding is based on the average daily attendance, which puts CISD at a disadvantage to not receive the entire basic allotment.
According to Darrin Rice, the district’s chief financial officer, CISD’s attendance numbers dropped from an average 94.3% pre-pandemic to 92.5% in the 2022-23 school year, where it is projected to stay for 2023-24. Due to the lower attendance rate, CISD does not receive the full $6,160 basic per-student allotment from the state.
Instead, the district’s per student allotment is actually $5,790, according to Rice. Despite the lower basic student allotment, the district’s expenditures are expected to increase by $49.46 million to account for additional personnel growth, inflation adjustments and the cost of portable buildings.
The increase does not include a salary raise for teachers. The district has decided to wait on state funding to provide any additional teacher compensation in order to keep the budget balanced.
The district’s preliminary expenditure budget for the 2023-24 school year is $672.77 million while the district’s tax rate is expected to decrease from $1.1146 to $0.9621 per $100 valuation.
What they're saying
In recent months, school district officials from across the state have not been shy about sharing their feelings on the state’s role in this year’s budget-making process.
“With the budget surplus that the Legislature had and their stated goal of increasing salaries for educators, we are disappointed that it has not yet happened,” CISD Superintendent Curtis Null said. “We are hopeful that that will happen in the coming months.”
In the current funding formula, Null said there is no money for staff raises.
“All of us as a society have experienced inflation and a rising cost of living,” he said. “At some point, if we aren’t able to give raises to our employees, they could be placed in a position to decide if they can continue to serve our children, which could be tragic.”
What happens next?
Despite many school officials’ comments throughout the state, there is still time for the state Legislature to pass a bill on school funding and teacher pay raises.
In the meantime, with shortfalls and a growing need to increase teacher compensation, many districts will likely be dipping into their fund balances to make ends meet, Popinski said.
“School districts are in a pretty tough position going forward,” he said.
Conroe ISD is expected to adopt its budget and tax rate Aug. 15, after press time.
