Budget Updates
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Keller ISD is in the process of preparing its 2024-25 Budget, and the Texas Legislature's failure to increase the basic per-student funding allotment over the past five years, coupled with increases in inflation and the cost of doing business have put the District in a position where it faces a budget shortfall of more than $27 million.
As District Administrators and the Board of Trustees consider efficiencies and programmatic changes that need to take place to address this shortfall, KISD employees, families, and citizens can find valuable updates and educational resources on this page as we strive to keep our community informed throughout this process.
Update 1/5/23: Our www.SaveKellerISD.net link has been updated. Please take just a few minutes and input your contact information to send an email to Governor Greg Abbott urging him to call a fifth special session. The Texas Legislature only meets every two years, so without a special session, there can be no increase to the basic school funding allotment and Texas school districts will be looking at going more than six years without an increase in the basic allotment.
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Educational Videos
View a video from the playlist below to learn more about Texas public school finance and factors that are influincing Keller ISD's current budget issues.
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Community Budget Seminar | March 21, 2024
Superintendent Dr. Tracy Johnson and Chief Operations Officer John Allison shared updates on the process of implementing Keller ISD's budget efficiencies for the 2024-25 school year.
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Community Budget Education Seminar 201
Superintendent Dr. Tracy Johnson and Chief Operations Officer John Allison hosted a Community Budget Education Seminar 201 on January 4, 2024, to share more details about forces influencing KISD's current budget situation and the lens through which the District is planning to address these challenges.
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Regular Board Meeting | Jan. 25, 2024
At the Board of Trustees' January 25, 2024, Regular Meeting, Superintendent Dr. Tracy Johnson and KISD administrators shared plans to present a balancd budget to the Board through $27 milion in savings.
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Community Budget Education Seminar
Chief Operations Officer John Allison hosted a Community Budget Education Seminar on November 28, 2023, to provide the public with information about how school financing operates in Keller ISD, and how those systems and the Texas Legislature's failure to increase the basic per-student funding allotment has led to budget challenges for KISD.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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How much of a deficit is KISD facing for the 2024-25 school year?
For the next school year, we are facing a budget deficit of more than $27 million if nothing changes. This number will fluctuate slightly with inflation, enrollment, attendance, legislative action, and measures the District takes to find savings.
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How is Keller ISD funded?
School districts in Texas are funded primarily by a combination of local property taxes and state revenue. The state has established a funding formula that determines how much a school district is entitled to, based on a number of factors like average daily attendance and needs of the students. First, revenue collected from property taxes is used to meet a district’s funding entitlement – the amount of funding the state has determined each school district should receive. If a district is unable to generate all of its funding via local property taxes, the state will provide additional funding. If a district generates more than its funding entitlement due to high local property tax collection, the excess revenue will be kept by the state for redistribution to other districts. This is known as Recapture. (Source) Districts also receive a small portion of funding from the federal government.
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Why is KISD facing a budget crisis?
There are a number of factors affecting our budget that are outside of our control:
- An outdated state funding formula that has not been changed since 2019, despite record inflation which has increased the cost of everything from from fuel, to insurance, to supplies.
- Underfunded mandates from the state: the state requires that we provide things like special education programs, safety measures, teacher raises, and technology for our students, but does not provide the funding for us to do so. We have little flexibility in these areas, and if the state fully funded those programs they mandate, our budget deficit would be resolved.
- School funding based on average daily attendance vs enrollment. Texas is one of only six states which funds public K-12 schools based on actual student attendance rather than enrollment. We must plan for educating the number of students enrolled, but we only receive funding based on average daily attendance.
Bottom line, the cost of educating our students has increased significantly, while funding has remained stagnant. We need the State of Texas to use their record surplus to fully fund our schools.
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What has the District done already to ease these challenges in the 2023-2024 budget?
We have taken a number of efficiency measures, including:
- Cuts at our administrative offices totaling almost $4 million
- Staffing efficiencies to offset declining enrollment totaling $4.5 million
- Eliminating vacant positions, saving $3 million
- Withholding 10% of department budgets for this school year, saving over $6 million
These savings helped us find a savings of approximately $17 million and balance the budget in the current school year.
