On June 9, Fort Bend ISD board members unanimously approved a $561.7 million budget for the 2014-15 school year.
"Our goal is to fund activities that support the district's mission and vision while achieving balanced budgets that do not require a tax increase," Chief Financial Officer Steve Bassett said. "We are not proposing any change to the tax rate. By maintaining our $0.30 tax rate, we will be able to pay off about $7.7 million of our debt early."
The budget reflects significant property tax revenue increases and includes an additional $5 million for instruction materials and $8.9 million for unforeseen maintenance issues over last year. In addition, the budget covers a district-wide salary increase and additional staffing measures totaling a $53.6 million investment.
An increase of $19.5 million—$14.1 million for teachers and $5.4 million for staff—brings the starting teacher salary to $50,000. Teachers will receive an average salary increase of 5.8 percent, according to district officials.
For several months, district staff met with administration and faculty to discuss what should be added or modified to the budget for the upcoming school year. The board approved the salary increases in April.
"A lot of collaboration took hold during the budget planning process," Bassett said. "One of the priorities to come from all of these groups was salary increases for teachers."
With more than $28.4 billion of taxable value projected within FBISD's coverage area—a 9 percent increase over last year—the district is expected to receive $310.3 million in local funding, which is about 55 percent of the 2014–15 budget. Other revenue sources include $249.8 million—or 44 percent—from state funding and $6.4 million in federal dollars.
FBISD's budget for the 2014–15 school year consists of:
Payroll costs—$484.9 million (86.32 percent)
Professional services—$37.5 million (6.68 percent)
Supplies and materials—$26.1 million (4.65 percent)
Other operating costs—$12.4 million (2.2 percent)
Capital outlay—$827,000 (0.15 percent)
