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Arlington ISD trustees outline challenges to keep budget balanced for 2024-25 academic year

Arlington ISD Administration Building on East Lamar Boulevard, as photographed on Feb. 22, 2024.
Dang Le
/
Arlington Report
Arlington ISD Administration Building on East Lamar Boulevard, as photographed on Feb. 22, 2024.

Arlington ISD trustees took their first look at the 2024-25 academic year budget.

During an April 18 board meeting, administrators did not present how much revenue is expected or how much the district plans to spend next school year. Trustees listed the Texas Legislature not increasing public education funding as an issue heading into what is likely to be a difficult budget season.

“Until the state gives us more money, it’s been very, very difficult to keep our budget and keep things going,” board President Melody Fowler told the Arlington Report.

Arlington ISD is still determining next year’s budget, the district’s spokesperson said. There will be another preliminary budget update May 16.

The district currently projects a $4 million deficit by the end of the 2023-24 academic year. The number could change as Arlington ISD amends the final budget. As of April, the district is operating on a $1.3 million budget surplus.

“There are other expenditures that will come that have not been amended so far,” Chief Financial Officer Darla Moss told the Arlington Report.

Board Secretary Sarah McMurrough said state funding will be an important context as the new budget is adopted.

The state allocates school districts $6,160 per student. School districts statewide did not receive any extra money from the Texas Legislature in 2023 but received billions in federal funds after the COVID-19 pandemic.

How Arlington ISD is using the final round of federal relief funding

The district received a total of $209,679,805 from three rounds of federal relief funds. Arlington ISD spent $97 million of its federal relief funding from the final round and has more than $24 million remaining. It has until Sept. 30, 2024, to use all the money or return it.

Here’s how funds from the final round have been allocated to date.

  • Learning loss intervention: $11.1 million
  • Social and emotional support: $215,000
  • Tutoring support: $16.1 million
  • Indirect cost: $10.2 million
  • Payroll: $69.5 million

Arlington ISD has seen an 18% increase in costs because of inflation, said Carla Martin, assistant superintendent of financial services. To keep up, the state should increase its funding to $7,260 per student, she added.

The district uses money from pandemic relief funds for the general operations budget. Without the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER, funding, the district would have expected about an $18 million deficit by the end of the 2023-24 school year.

“Not only are we not adequately getting funding from the state, given the rapidly rising inflation rate, this is at the same time we’re losing those ESSER dollars,” McMurrough said.

The district will receive preliminary property values from Tarrant Appraisal District at the end of April, Martin said. Arlington ISD currently expects a 10% increase.

Final property values are scheduled to be released in late July.

The district also has $53 million set aside to support 2019 bond projects that can be shifted back to general fund operations, Martin said.

Arlington ISD’s 2023-24 school year tax rate is $1.1156 per $100 of valuation — the lowest in a decade. However, rising home values cause property owners to pay more taxes to the school district.

“When you take a look at your tax bill, your dollar amount that you’re paying annually is going up, and a lot of that is because of those rising home values,” Superintendent Matt Smith said.

Declining enrollment affects Arlington ISD’s state funding. The district anticipates a student enrollment of 53,551 for the next budget. Arlington ISD has 54,682 students as of April 15.

Fewer students equals fewer dollars from the state.

However, the district saw its highest average attendance rate in two years, at 92.8%. Public schools receive state funding based on the number of students attending classes.

About 85% of Arlington ISD’s spending goes toward paying teachers and staff.

The district projects a steady staff count of 8,580 for the next academic year compared to 8,655 in the 2023-24 end-of-year forecast.

Arlington ISD will have to wrestle with the right number of staff for its students as it deals with a shrinking budget and declining enrollment, Smith said.

However, the best support for teachers right now is to keep the classroom size as small as it is currently, he said.

Board Vice President Justin Chapa said reducing the number of teachers and staff to match declining enrollment is not simply a one-on-one ratio. Arlington ISD has seen increasing numbers of low-income students, which may take significant resources to support compared to their more affluent peers.

“If we need to have more staff so we can do right by our kids, I think we’re going to need to do whatever it takes to stay there,” Chapa said.

Arlington ISD budget timeline

Here’s what to expect over the upcoming months as Arlington ISD trustees work on the 2024-25 budget.

  • April 30: Tarrant Appraisal District expected to deliver certified estimates of taxable value to the district.
  • May 16: Board expected to hear preliminary budget update.
  • June 6: Board authorizes an advertisement of notice of public meeting to discuss budget and proposed tax rate.
  • June 18: Board holds a public hearing on the proposed budget, and trustees are expected to consider adopting the budget.
  • June 30: AISD must adopt a budget by this deadline.
  • July 1: 2024-25 fiscal year begins.
  • July 25: Arlington ISD receives certified values from TAD.
  • Sept. 30: AISD faces deadline to adopt tax rate.

Dang Le is a reporting fellow for the Arlington Report. Contact him at dang.le@fortworthreport.org or @DangHLe. At the Arlington Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

This article first appeared on Arlington Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.