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Early projections show Lake Travis ISD could see either a $450,000 or $1.2 million budget shortfall in 2026-27 if various reductions are made.
The board of trustees held a budget workshop April 1 to discuss these projections with district officials.
Current situation
Roughly 5% of LTISD's budget is proposed to be cut, which Superintendent Curtis Null said focused on minimizing classroom impact.
"There will be pain, but could we as a team take that pain and spread it as wide as possible so that we can keep it as shallow as possible?" Null said. "Rather than having any particular department be very deep, how do we spread that across the entire district? I think we've been able to achieve that as well."
Chief Financial Officer Pam Sanchez said LTISD is budgeting for a projected loss of 105 students in 2026-27, which does not include the possible enrollment impact from the education savings account program approved during the last Texas Legislature.
The update
According to Susan Fambrough, assistant superintendent of human resources, LTISD has historically used Texas Association of School Board staffing guidelines.
The district will instead use new ratios based on LTISD's projected enrollment to ensure the district has efficient staffing, Fambrough said. This would equate to a 1-20 ratio in pre-K classrooms; 22-1 in kindergarten and first grade; 23-1 in second, third and fourth grades; and 26-1 in fifth grade.
The district will also move away from a Teacher on Special Assignment, or TOSA, model. Instead, elementary campuses above 600 students will be allotted a second assistant principal, and middle school campuses above 850 students will be allotted a third assistant principal.
In total, proposed reductions through attrition include:
The projected $450,000 budget shortfall does not include salary increases. With a 1% of midpoint salary increase for all staff, the budget shortfall would climb to $1.2 million.
"People may be changing roles and taking on different tasks, and we appreciate their flexibility in doing that so that we can continue to be sustainable as a school district and invest in our people," trustee Lauren White said. "I know 1% doesn't always feel great, but if we can give more hopefully in the future when funding is in a different position, it does all add up so that the intention is certainly there to continue that way."
What else?
The budget projection does not include the Texas Legislature's special education allotment approved as part of House Bill 2.
The Texas Education Agency has not allocated funding yet, Sanchez said, but could generate an additional $483,400 for LTISD. The determination of funding allocations is expected this summer.
What they're saying
Null said that while LTISD had to reduce the budget shortfall to protect the long-term solvency of the district, LTISD is in a "very healthy decision" compared to other districts.
"There's been a lot of work that's happened here over the last few years to move from an almost $10 million budget deficit to a $5 million budget deficit [in 2025-26] to where we will be for next year," Null said. "It's better to make hard decisions to ensure that the district is healthy than to find ourselves delaying hard decisions and being forced to make even more difficult decisions in the future."
Something to note
Last year, LTISD shifted its fiscal year, and the board will now adopt its 2026-27 budget by June 30 instead of August.
