MISD’s nearly $103 million budget is about $2 million less than its approved budget for the previous fiscal year because of no increase in state funding, slowing property values and conservative enrollment projections, Assistant Superintendent of Operations Erich Morris said. However, the district ended FY 2016-17 with a surplus of more than $1 million.
“Without legislative assistance in terms of increasing our allotment per student that all districts receive, only [projecting] a 70-student growth, we generally speaking really have no new money to speak of for [FY] 2017-18,” Morris said.
TISD’s budget totals $128.5 million, which is 5.54 percent higher than FY 2016-17, Chief Financial Officer Jim Ross said. Higher salaries, startup costs for Tomball Star Academy—an early college high school within TISD—and planned strategic initiatives account for the increase, he said.
Magnolia ISD
Although the FY 2017-18 budget is balanced between revenue sources and expenditures, slowing property values, minimal enrollment growth and no increase in state funding challenged the creation of MISD’s budget, Morris said.
The district projects 70 additional students this year after enrollment dipped by about 50 students in FY 2016-17, Morris said.
“We had somewhat of an anomaly year in 2016-17 as it relates to our student enrollment in terms of a slight decrease for 2016-17, which goes certainly against the grain of what we’ve become accustomed to for the last many years,” he said.
Additionally, property values increased 6 percent from FY 2016-17 to FY 2017-18, which is a smaller increase than the 11 percent growth ahead of the previous fiscal year.
As revenue is expected to slow in FY 2017-18, the district decreased expenses in noninstructional areas by up to 10 percent and campus expenses by up to 5 percent, Morris said.
However, the district maintains all of its programs for FY 2017-18 in addition to adding instructional positions, awarding 2 percent salary increases and maintaining its property tax rate. MISD increased its starting annual salary for teachers to $50,500, raising the pay from $49,500 in FY 2016-17.
“We’ve been very committed to remain competitive with salaries,” Morris said.
Tomball ISD
Ross said TISD’s budget is also limited by no increase in the state funding allotment per student. However, the district expects its enrollment to grow more than 5 percent this year, which will increase revenue for the district.
“The challenge was building a budget dealing with inflationary increases in all areas of operations, an increase in student enrollment of 5.53 percent, providing a 3 percent general pay increase, and controlling budget appropriations growth with no increase in funding formulas by the state for per pupil allocations,” Ross said.
A first-year teacher in TISD will earn $53,200 in FY 2017-18, an increase from $52,000 in the previous fiscal year.
Expenditures also include $3.7 million in recapture payments to the state during FY 2017-18, which is an increase from the $1.9 million paid in FY 2016-17.
“Recapture is based on a formula that is the assessed taxable property divided by the weighted average daily attendance,” Ross said. “An increase in recapture is due to the 10.7 percent increase in property values being much greater than the increase in enrollment of 5.53 percent.”
Although expenditures have increased, TISD’s property tax rate holds steady at $1.34 per $100 valuation for FY 2017-18.
