Keller ISD Community,

Our district is facing a historic $27 million budget deficit because Austin has refused to spend any of the state’s historic $40 billion budget surplus on local education. This deficit is rooted in exploding inflationary costs (more than 17%), underfunded mandates, and a state funding formula that has not been updated since 2019.

To put it very simply, the state chose not to fund public education despite having a $40 billion budget surplus, which put our district – and as a result our students and teachers – in financial jeopardy.

Despite inaction by Austin, the Board and district leadership have been proactive. Last year, we adopted a balanced budget that provided $17 million in cost-savings to the District. The administration focused first on finding efficiencies in central office, resulting in approximately $3.8 million savings.

The Board and district leadership also made multiple trips to Austin to advocate for funding for Keller ISD. We created a budget and finance committee comprised of community members to provide guidance and feedback on the budget.

The plan shared on Thursday night is a continuation of our ongoing, collective efforts over the past two years to get Keller ISD’s budget back on track. Given the magnitude of this challenge, every part of our community will have to help. The main sources for additional savings will be: 

• Additional central office reductions of more than $4 million, which is almost $8 million over the past two years;
• Implementing zero-based budgeting and centralizing purchasing, which means we will balance our budget and buy essential items like most people with their personal finances, and we will save money by doing so; 
• Providing instructional support based on student interest, student need, and guided by student performance data; 
• Streamlining staffing guidelines across the district for athletics, fine arts, and CTE programs; 
• Improving co-curricular activities to include physical education, music, art, STEM, and theatre – making sure programming is available to all campuses.  
• Implementing traditional block schedules, with high school and middle school teachers teaching the normal seven classes of eight periods (instead of six of eight class periods); and
• Identifying a new location for the Keller Collegiate Academy.

Keller ISD is a destination of excellence, and the plan shared by the administration on Thursday will ensure that it remains that way for all students by focusing on student outcomes and supporting our educators, all while protecting the long-term financial solvency of Keller ISD.

We promise to continue sharing information as we are able, and the administration is working with campus leaders to make the budgeting process as smooth as possible for our students and educators.

Thank you to all of our excellent educators and amazing students for continuing to shine in the midst of this current budget challenge and thank you to all of our families for continuing to support our schools and staff members. We are confident that the Keller ISD community will continue to rise to the occasion. 

Dr. Charles Randklev
President
Keller ISD Board of Trustees

Dr. Tracy Johnson
Superintendent
Keller ISD