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.
We can no longer afford the property tax bill. Between parents choosing home schooling rather than the mess that public education has become, blowing funds and waste — do schools really need professional quality athletic fields? We did fine with open field and bleachers. Get back to focussing on the basic education and live within your means just like the rest of us!
I agree with you 100% and that was part of my comment. RISD spent tens of millions of dollars building indoor training facilities for each High School. We’re talking about Division 1 College type athletic facilities with actual terf fields, weight rooms, team meeting rooms, etc. Total a waste of money.
My son is an RISD student and my ex-wife is an administrator. This district has so many problems it’s not even funny. You want to save money, get ride of a lot of the useless technology, for example spending millions on google and microsoft products for students, stop spending money on this diversity and inclusion crap, start taking control of the activist teachers pushing their political beliefs, and focus on strictly teaching students. This district recently built athletic facilities for each high school that cost tens of millions of dollars per location. They’re beautiful facilities but lets be honest, this is an absolute waste of money for athletic programs, and this is coming from a dad who’s very proud of his junior varsity football player. RISD needs to do what every family has done in America, make cuts, start spending more responsibly, and I love the idea of hiring an independent 3rd party to audit their finances.
I am a Senior at Pearce High School. I have gone through the district’s budget multiple times and the issue is not how you incorrectly described it as ‘diversity and inclusion crap’. The budget issues lie in the massive ongoing construction projects summing up to hundreds of millions of dollars. As for your ignorance of the status of the teachers in the RISD, I would inform you that they are not pushing political beliefs, in fact, that would be illegal. And the teachers are strict, in case you aren’t aware there was a mass exodus of teachers from RISD last year, roughly 60 teachers left. Many of the teachers you are insinuating to not be strict are probably unqualified coaches filling in positions, or often teachers being stretched thin by full schedules. If you would like to bankroll an independent party to audit the Richardson Independent School District, then I implore you to do so. Otherwise, you can take your own money and pay for your son to attend a private school where perhaps you will have fewer issues.