RRISD will not face steep budget cuts, officials say

Though approval of the budget is not expected until June 21, a presentation to the board of trustees May 8 estimated next year's expenditures at slightly more than $337 million and a tax rate rising from $1.335 per $100 of valuation to $1.38.

The tax rate increase would be a return to 2010–11 levels after the school board voted last year to provide a one-time benefit to taxpayers due to $8.9 million in excess funds. Staats said he expects the rate to return to $1.38.

That means property valued at $200,000, if that value did not change from last year, would expect to pay about $90 more.

Tax rates are not set with the budget and will instead likely be voted on in September, Staats said.

Adjustments and additions

The budget also makes room for a 3 percent salary increase for teachers and staff—totaling about $6.7 million—as well as nearly $1.35 million in proposed additional support for Stony Point and Cedar Ridge high schools, both attempts to make up ground the district lost last year.

The salary increase, Staats said, was due in part to a lack of pay increases last year coupled with changes to the district's health insurance plan that increased employee costs, effectively cutting salaries across the district.

In essence, he said, this was an effort to "catch up" with employee wages.

Meanwhile, about $800,000 of the funds for Stony Point and Cedar Ridge would go to hire additional teachers, in part due to Cedar Ridge High School's Academically Unacceptable state rating last year.

"What the board wanted to do was recognize that fact by giving them some additional teachers to lower that student-teacher ratio," Staats said.

The two schools also have the highest percentages of economically disadvantaged students in the district by a wide margin. Cedar Ridge is 36.9 percent economically disadvantaged, while Stony Point sits at 36.8 percent. Round Rock High School is next at 25 percent, while Westwood is the lowest with 12.2 percent.