For officials tasked with preparing Cy-Fair ISD's budget every year, the process tends to include a lot of "what-ifs." According to officials at a board of trustees work session held on Thursday, May 11, this year is no different.
Karen Smith, assistant superintendent of business and finance, said the budget team made careful considerations to reach the numbers in the preliminary budget for 2017-18 presented last night.
“The current state funding formula is if you have an increase in property values, and property taxes are going up, then the state kicks in less,” Smith said. “We don’t really get any more money unless we have an increase in student enrollment.”
Influencing factors included economic recovery in the oil and gas industry as well as school finance laws and pending legislation.
Additionally, the district projects a slight decline in both the student enrollment growth rate—about 0.5 percent—and in the property value growth rate, which only increased by 6 percent this year. The property wealth per student in CFISD is projected at $362,000 in 2017, meaning the district would not have to send any money back to the state as a part of the existing recapture—or "Robin Hood"—system that guides school finance.
Budget goals include:
- Providing a competitive starting teacher salary
- Increasing the salaries of classroom teachers by 1-3 percent ($5.7-$17 million)
- Increasing the salaries of other employees by 1-3 percent ($2.5-$6.9 million)
- Funding the operations costs of Bridgeland High School, Wells Elementary School, Hoover Elementary School, the new Matzke Elementary School campus and the district’s new natatorium after construction is complete ($7.4 million)
- Funding miscellaneous items such as property insurance, software licenses and maintenance agreements ($2.2 million)
Details from the preliminary budget and projected funding:
Local revenue: $537,762,608
State revenue: $357,205,783
Federal revenue: $7,000,000
Total revenue: $901,968,391
Expenditures: $928,276,152 (when increasing salaries by 3 percent)
Deficit: $26,307,761
The deficit could be lower or the budget could be balanced if student enrollment and property value numbers are higher than officials anticipate, or if legislators decide to adjust the school funding formula, Smith said.
“We believe that with conservative spending, we’d still be able to balance the budget,” Smith said.
Stuart Snow, associate superintendent of business and finance, said that the state bases its funding on the district’s average daily attendance, which is about 108,000 for 2016-17.
However, the district’s true enrollment, which officials have to develop a budget for, is about 115,000 students.
“We’re actually being funded through state revenue at a lesser amount than what we have to plan on in terms of the number of teachers that we have to be able to provide for the students that are enrolled,” he said.
House Bill 21, filed by Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Houston, could provide $12.5 million more to CFISD next year, but after
a substitute from the Senate Education Committee yesterday, it is less likely to be signed into law, officials said.
Committee Chairman Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, presented a provision that would allow students with special needs to enroll in education savings accounts, diverting state funds from public schools to private institutions.
“We were all on board with [HB] 21 until they added a voucher provision, and then we rescinded our support of that bill,” Superintendent Mark Henry said.
Officials will continue to work on the budget until the board is set to vote on a final version at a June 26 meeting.
