Frisco Independent School District (FISD) has found itself in a “precarious situation” due to a $24.4 million deficit in its budget, according to district officials.
FISD board of trustees met on June 12 to discuss the 2023-24 fiscal year budget and grapple with the considerable shortfall it faces for the second year in a row.
“I’m concerned about adopting a second deficit budget,” said Board Member Stephanie Elad, according to Community Impact newspapers. “Last year, it was our first time, and we hoped that we wouldn’t be in this place again.”
Kimberly Smith, the district’s chief financial and strategy officer, presented the proposed budget of $943.3 million and disclosed the possibility of a shortfall at a previous board meeting on May 30.
She cited a lack of legislative funding, higher operational costs, and plans to open new schools and positions as having driven this problem.
As The Dallas Express previously reported, FISD has seen surging student enrollment numbers. Four of its campuses are at capacity for the upcoming school year.
Compared to neighboring Dallas ISD, which is losing students to private schools, charters, and homeschooling, FISD had much better student achievement scores last year. Roughly 74% of FISD students scored at grade level on the STAAR exam whereas only 41% did at Dallas ISD.
FISD’s high student enrollment numbers might help cushion the $24.4 million gap in its budget.
Enrolling additional students would increase the district’s funding based on daily attendance rates. Yet, as Smith explained during the recent meeting, more students would also lead to greater operating costs, according to Community Impact.
While some bills that might allocate more funds to Texas school districts are pending in the Texas Legislature, another option available to help FISD to cover the budget gap is raising the tax rate, which will be the subject of a public hearing in August.
Complicating matters further, FISD must vote on its budget on June 20. This means revisions need to come quickly.
“As a school board, we are required to adopt some type of budget so that our 9,000 staff members can be paid in July,” explained Board Member Rene Archambault, according to Community Impact.
The new budget includes perks for educators and district staff, including a salary bump and added annual leave days.
It also provides funds to launch new special education initiatives, including programs for children who are bilingual, have dyslexia, or need prekindergarten.
FISD departments were able to free up $1.2 million in vacancies to reduce the deficit and have been asked to explore how to cut costs further, said Smith, according to Community Impact.