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Budgeting
Strategies for Success
Even with budget shortfalls and uncertainty over future staff and campus cuts, it’s not all bad times in El Paso and Arlington ISDs.
In fact, the struggling economy has led to contractor competition for some jobs in El Paso that has saved the district money.
“We’ve actually seen some smaller projects, such as school additions and bus drop-offs, with very competitive bids that came in under budget,” says Ken Parker, El Paso ISD’s chief business officer.
Arlington ISD, meanwhile, is opening the district to transfer students. Despite budget worries and no current bond projects, district officials are still looking ahead and planning for future needs in areas such as technology and transportation.
And both districts insist that extracurricular activities have not been curtailed. While some Texas high schools collect participation fees for revenue, Parker says that is something the El Paso ISD does not do.
“We try and stay away from fees,” he says. “Extracurricular activities are an area where we do all we can to encourage our kids to participate in athletics, fine arts and other areas.”
Cuts Have Limits
School districts dip into savings to balance budgets.
A sagging economy, slumping property values and state funding capped at 2006 levels have several Texas school districts facing some tough budget decisions.
The 2009 Texas Legislature’s House Bill 3646 should help by ensuring every district an increase of at least $120 per weighted average daily attendance. But the bill won’t answer every budget question, and solutions vary from district to district. Work force reductions, construction holds and program cuts are all potential parts of the mix.
The Arlington and El Paso independent school districts (ISD) – at opposite ends of the state both geographically and monetarily – are among those districts seeking answers.
Funding Growth
The El Paso ISD, with a median family income of $36,500, already can predict that its 63,000-student population will grow by as many as 4,500 students during the next three years alongside a troop increase at Fort Bliss. To prepare itself, the district is building up to five new schools where population growth is expected and at the same time retracting in other areas to shave costs off its current $453 million budget.
Alongside the expansion, district officials have suggested closing three smaller schools, potentially saving about $4.5 million. The campuses serve 230-330 students each, which make them inefficient to operate, says Ken Parker, chief business officer for the El Paso ISD. The idea was not popular.
“There was a lot of resistance from that part of the community,” Parker says. “I think primarily they understood why we were trying to do it, they just didn’t want it to be their schools.”
The plan has been put on hold for at least two years as El Paso ISD tries to develop the schools and keep them open. But the district has worked hard to be efficient while keeping cuts away from the classroom, Parker says. He adds that the district has excelled in the classroom during the past five years and alternate budget solutions are going to require some difficult choices.
“Cuts now are going to be pretty tough, because they’re probably going to relate to personnel or programs,” Parker says. “We’ve put a lot of money into improving academics, so it’s going to be hard to go back and look at areas to cut, but it will have to be done.”
Relying on Fund Balance
In Arlington, the median annual income tops $60,000. But the 74-campus district will use part of its $85 million fund balance to cover a $16.8 million shortfall from its fiscal 2009 budget of $427 million. Future budgets are projected to be short as well.
“Our preliminary fiscal 2010 budget has an estimated deficit of $13 million,” says Cindy Powell, Arlington ISD’s associate superintendent of finance.
The House version of HB 3646 would have given Arlington ISD an estimated $21 million. The revised Senate version, however, was the version sent to Gov. Rick Perry’s desk and knocks that estimate down to about $10 million.
Digging into the Budget: Arlington ISD’s enrollment has fluctuated higher, but has increased only 1.2 percent during the past 5 years. The budget, however, has increased by 17 percent. In the current year, a 180-student increase coincided with a budget reduction of about $0.4 million. Source: Arlington ISD
District officials also are expecting lower property values, a reversal of the annual 3.3 percent tax base growth of recent years.
“We have projected that our 2009 certified property values will be lower than last year, and those lower values will reduce state aid by about $3 million,” Powell says.
Arlington ISD is adjusting where it can and has cut campus allotments by 15 percent and department budgets by 5 percent.
“Right now, there have not been any personnel cuts and there are no plans to,” says Veronica Sopher, public information director for the Arlington ISD. “But what we are doing is a position review and as positions become available through attrition, decisions are made on whether or not to refill or realign those positions.”
The district also hopes to increase its enrollment, which has been relatively flat during the past five years, by opening the district to transfer students for the first time. District employees will be able to transfer in their children – elementary-age only in the first year – to Arlington schools. Non-employees living outside the district also will be able to transfer their elementary students into schools that have space.
District officials hope the increased average daily attendance will provide some extra state funding. It is estimated that Arlington ISD – with an enrollment of about 63,000 – would receive a bit more than the current $5,133 ADA payments for fiscal 2010, but that number wasn’t finalized by mid-June. If as many as 200 transfer students could be attracted, funding would increase by about $1 million. TR
For more information, visit the Arlington ISD or El Paso ISD Web sites.