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The Brownsville Independent School District is getting closer to determining where its budget can reasonably be cut and still provide the services the community expects.
BISD operates on a July 1 to June 30 fiscal year, meaning it has the rest of the month to adopt a budget for the 2024-2025 school year.
The district is facing added challenges again this year due to no increase in state funding for public education. Additionally, BISD must use higher state-mandated property values rather than Cameron County Appraisal District values to calculate local spending.
The district is in the process of deciding where to cut about $20 million in expenditures and has said everyone who has a job with BISD now will still have one next year. Superintendent Jesus H. Chavez reassured employees of that at the beginning of the budget process several months ago.
BISD, with 40,000 students and about 7,000 employees, has an annual budget of about $450,000.
The district’s budget committee met last Wednesday, hearing reports from six employee committees on where to cut expenses.
Rachel R. Ayala, the principal at Brownsville Early College High School and chairwoman of the principals’ committee, said during eight meetings, the group kept in mind three guiding principles from Chavez:
>> To the extent possible, protect student and school expenditures;
>> Maintain and sustain services that have a direct impact on student achievement;
>> Maintain and sustain operations for continued campus safety.
“We have a staffing study, as was mentioned, and the amount of savings that (the Texas Association of School Boards) identified was $19.9 million in right-sizing and staff adjustments,” Chavez said. “We actually, as you look at the list today, we have a total of $5.9 million in staff reductions, which is about 30% of the recommendation. … I want to emphasize to the board that as the principals did their work, they focused on the classroom. I want to emphasize that principals did a phenomenal job of protecting services to students, (protecting) teachers. Safety is always something that we put at the very top of the list.”
“You’re going to get to review the final cut list. That list is going to be taken by our Human Resources folks and our finance folks to prepare the final budget proposal that we will bring to you at the next board meeting,” Chavez said.
That meeting is June 11, and on June 20, the administration will present the teacher compensation plan for adoption, he said.
“And then lastly, we’re going to be reviewing the impact of decisions on the cut list and/or things that are saved and/or taken out from the cut list, on fund balance, because remember, whatever is not reduced in cost, they’re still expenditures that the district needs to make and obviously if we have expenditures to a certain level not financed by state aid and our taxes, then those dollars have to come out of fund balance,” Chavez said.
Meanwhile, the standoff at the Legislature over public school funding continues. Gov. Greg Abbott and his allies are insisting on approval of a school voucher plan as a condition for releasing about $4 billion in public school funding, which has since increased.
In the meantime, the basic school funding allotment remains unchanged since 2019 at $6,160 per student, assuming the child attends 100% of the time.
But BISD has an attendance rate of about 87%, meaning the allotment becomes about $5,700 per child, Chief Financial Officer Alejandro Cespedes said at an earlier meeting.
During last week’s meeting, committee members discussed plans to close down Brownsville Learning Academy, the district’s alternative campus at the former Cummings Middle School.
That proposal would see BLA students moving back to their high schools of origin at a savings estimated at $443,179.
Board member Frank Ortiz received assurances that the students would continue to be presented with the services they are offered at BLA, including smaller class sizes.
BLA programs would not be cut, just transferred to BISD high schools, Chavez said.
