Klein ISD leaders expect to shrink fiscal year 2025-26 budget gap by $16.2M

Klein ISD’s projected funding gap for the fiscal year 2025-26 budget has been lowered from $21.1 million to $4.8 million, district leaders say.

In a nutshell

During the KISD board of trustees’ Feb. 2 meeting, trustees approved the district’s first budget review for the FY 2025-26 budget. Various budget cuts and additional funding allowed the FY 2025-26 budget’s projected general fund shortfall to decrease by about $16.2 million, according to the budget review, posted in Feb. 2 meeting documents.

“The most recent budget amendment reduced the general fund deficit ... allowing us to protect our award-winning programs as we prioritize student success in KISD,” said Chelsea Ceballos, KISD’s director of communications, via a Feb. 6 email.

Diving deeper

According to the review, major changes to the general fund include:

• $24.2 million more in projected state revenue
• $4.3 million in increased payroll expenditures due to employee retention bonuses approved in June
• $1.5 million less in local revenue earned from interest due to expected lower interest rates
• $1.2 million less than expected in local taxes due to new higher homestead exemptions

On June 24, KISD trustees unanimously approved the FY 2025-26 budget, which features $572.2 million in general operating fund expenses, representing a 4.2% increase year over year, as previously reported by Community Impact. The district’s expenditures outweigh its revenues for the FY 2025-26 budget by $21.1 million.

In April, Chief Financial Officer Dan Schaeffer estimated the general fund shortfall would be $39 million for FY 2025-26, as previously reported.