Texas legislative session helps Fort Bend ISD balance 2023-24 budget

After the end of the 2023 Texas legislative session, Fort Bend ISD walks away with not nearly as much funding as it had sought but with a balanced preliminary budget for fiscal year 2023-24.

What’s happening?

FBISD did not receive the full $39.8 million in new state funding from the legislative session that it had estimated. After publishing a preliminary budget based on the session’s outcome, the board of trustees held a public hearing and an agenda review meeting May 5. No members of the public spoke at the hearing.

As a result of the legislative session, the district did receive an additional $18.1 million of funding, including a $16.7 million increase in the Tier 2 “golden penny” yield as well as a $1.4 million safety and security allotment increase from House Bill 3. However, the expenditures required by the bill will greatly exceed the funding received, FBISD Chief Financial Officer Bryan Guinn said.

Since the Legislature did not increase the basic per-student allotment, the district will not be able to fund general teacher pay increases but will still cover teacher step increases, Guinn said.

What they’re saying

“It was not good. That’s the bottom line. It wasn’t good. There are some benefits that we received, but, overall, the work in Austin was not completed,” Guinn said.

By the numbers

The preliminary 2023-24 budget includes:

• $766.64 million budgeted for expenditures
• $767.5 million of revenue
• $9,552 budgeted per student (1.4% more than last school year)
• 80,256 projected student enrollment for 2023-24

What’s next

The district will vote on the budget June 26. It will receive the final property values from the Fort Bend Central Appraisal District in July, which are estimated to increase 10% from last year, and adopt the tax rate in August.