The district’s leadership is working to balance continued growth with fiscal responsibility, CISD Superintendent John Chapman said.
As the district prepares to educate 30,000 students this year, Chapman highlighted the impact of inflation and recent legislative changes on the district’s finances.
“The district is dealing with inflationary prices as costs for most goods and services keep escalating,” Chapman said in an email statement. The recent state Senate Bill 2 reduced the amount of property taxes the district is able to collect and retain, he said.
CISD lost $14 million in funding for the 2023-24 school year due to property tax compression, despite an increase of 752 students compared to the previous year, Chapman said. Looking forward, the district is also considering forming a committee of community members and staff to explore potential cost-saving measures and provide recommendations.
Two-minute impact
Comal ISD is budgeting an estimated $221.6 million in local revenue, $77.7 million in state aid and another $2 million in federal dollars for a total of $301.3 million in revenue for fiscal year 2024-25.
That doesn’t quite make up for the anticipated expenditures for instruction, maintenance and operations, school leadership, and other general expenses totaling $320.16 million.
Debt service funds and child nutrition funds are also expected to have a shortfall this school year.
Chapman said districts statewide need additional state funding, noting that a collective statewide request by school administrators for $5.4 billion in the last legislative session went unmet.
Amid the funding challenges, the district is grappling with how to effectively educate its growing student body. Although funding is allocated per student, officials say it hasn’t kept pace with increasing needs, leading to strain on resources as the student population expands.
The district collaborates with developers to plan new campuses. However, delays due to permitting issues have impacted new school construction. With 122 portable classrooms in use, the district faces space challenges, Chapman said.
CISD trustee Courtney Biasatti said that the completion of Middle School No. 9 is delaying the timeline for opening new campuses planned there, adding financial pressure on the district. This contributes to overcrowding in existing schools, increasing operational costs, Biasatti said.
Financial challenges for the district are in part due to loss of temporary federal aid as well as state funding reductions. Those include a $3.7 million reduction in pandemic-era federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, a $1.7 million decrease in school health and related services funding, and $750 million in budgetary impacts from Senate Bill 2’s reductions in the amount of property taxes a district is able to collect.
Despite these challenges, CISD is prioritizing 80% of its budget for teacher salaries and classroom instruction, Chapman said. Another 15% is allocated to facilities and maintenance, and 5% to instructional support services.
“[We] asked for $5.4 billion for the state of Texas. ... We have to have money to continue to operate, which we did not get,” Chapman said at a July 30 Greater New Braunfels Economic Development Foundation quarterly luncheon.
In 2019, House Bill 3 increased per student funding, but that has not kept pace with inflation or student needs, said Dax Gonzalez, Texas Association of School Board’s governmental relations director. He said that districts face stricter safety requirements without sufficient funding, as recent state laws provide minimal per-student increases and one-time grants, insufficient in the long-term.
“Now you have to hire more teachers and you have to build more buildings," Gonzalez said. "Those are two different pots of money.”
Additionally, Gonzalez said that federal COVID-19 relief funds, which had temporarily bolstered budgets, have run out, leaving districts to struggle to maintain programs amid rising costs.
“The district has experienced exponential increases in the costs of insurance, utilities, instructional supplies ... and labor costs since 2019,” Chapman said.
What's next?
Chapman said the district will likely prioritize cuts that minimize impact on core classroom needs.
While specific areas for reduction have not been finalized, administrative costs and elective programs may be the first targets.
Chapman said maintaining the district’s quality of education and supporting its growing student population will be a key focus, despite financial constraints.
The district may explore alternative funding sources or adjustments in operations to manage the shortfall, he said.
Looking ahead, the district will also have to closely monitor legislative developments that could affect future funding and engage with the community and stakeholders to communicate the challenges and decisions being made.
The 2021 and 2023 school bonds in Comal ISD are funding new facilities across the district, including elementary, middle and high schools:
Bond 2021
- Farias Spitzer Elementary
- Comal Creek Elementary
- Bulverde Middle School
- Hill Country College Preparatory High School
- Elementary School No. 23
- Middle School No. 9
- Elementary School No. 22
- Elementary School No. 21
- Life Bridges No. 2
