Richardson Independent School District (RISD) could be facing some tough financial choices down the road after it overshot its budget by roughly $26 million of taxpayer money.
At a meeting of RISD’s Board of Trustees earlier this month, Assistant Superintendent for Finance David Pate reported to board members about the district’s fiscal footing, pointing out that the district’s maintenance and operations (M&O) tax rate is the lowest it has been in three decades.
“This is the lowest M&O tax rate in 30 years, and it all is based on the school finance formulas, and as we all know, since House Bill 3, it has been pushing the M&O rate down and it’s our lowest overall rate in seven years,” said Pate, referring to a Texas law that reformed public school funding.
While the overall tax rate has gone down in RISD, the actual amount of property taxes collected has gone up in recent years, with soaring house prices pumping up property tax levies, resulting in a de facto tax increase of 16% between 2018 and 2022.
At the same time, enrollment in the district has dropped roughly 4% between the 2018-2019 school year and the 2022-2023 school year, falling from 39,625 students to 37,984. Pate noted that this squeezed the district’s finances since state funding is based on the average number of students in attendance in a given year.
“[State] funding only increases when the number of students increases,” Pate acknowledged.
Still, RISD’s spending over the last few years has continued to grow, with operating costs rising by 25.4% between 2018-2019 and 2022-2023.
The Dallas Express spoke with James Quintero, the policy director for the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s “Government for the People” initiative, who lent some insight into an increasingly common dynamic at local school districts.
“Richardson ISD is servicing fewer and fewer students, yet its tax burden and spending footprint continue to grow,” said Quintero, pointing out that RISD is essentially spending about 30% more per capita to educate a smaller number of students, having budgeted $13,596 of taxpayer money per student this school year.
“The district’s fiscal picture suggests that improvements are needed. To identify exactly where the district can improve, trustees should order a third-party efficiency audit of its budget and operations. By allowing an objective third party to scrutinize everything about the district, trustees can get a more complete understanding of where the problem areas are and how to fix them,” he said.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, RISD ran into budget problems back in October 2022, when skyrocketing costs in building materials caused district construction projects to overshoot their bond allotments by as much as 10%.
While RISD’s financial issues may be a consequence of inefficiencies and bad spending habits, neighboring Dallas Independent School District (DISD), which budgeted to spend $16,297 per student this school year, has been wracked by scandal regarding its spending practices, which at least one whistleblower suggested was evidence of “rampant corruption” at DISD.
“This type of tax-and-spend mentality is putting real pressure on family budgets,” Quintero told The Dallas Express, claiming the dynamic is becoming increasingly out of line with taxpayer expectations.
The Dallas Express reached out for comment from RISD’s Board of Trustees and its superintendent, but no response was received by press time.