The Northside Independent School District Board of Directors approved a $93.8 million deficit budget on Tuesday.
District officials told trustees they expect general fund revenues to be just over $1 billion this school year, but plan to spend about $94 million more.
Many school districts in Texas and San Antonio have passed deficit budgets this school year. Costs have increased significantly since 2019 due to inflation, but state subsidies have remained unchanged.
North East ISD passed a budget with a $62.5 million deficit and San Antonio ISD plans to spend $53.7 million more than expected revenue.
With around 100,000 students, Northside is the largest school district in San Antonio.
Trustee Carol Harle said the board made a difficult fiscal year even more difficult by imposing a retention bonus and a 2 percent raise on staff. “It upsets me that we couldn’t get more out of it,” Harle said. “We care so much about our staff and our teachers and we just wish we could give them more financial compensation.”
Harle said that frustration will fuel her efforts to persuade state lawmakers to increase funding for public education when the legislative session begins in January.
Superintendent John Craft said state lawmakers have made it difficult for districts to pass balanced budgets because they did not pass legislation to increase funding last session.
“This was probably one of the most difficult budgets,” Craft said. “I’d like to say the next one will be less challenging, but I’m not going to say that. I’m afraid the really difficult one is just around the corner.”
Rene Barajas, the district’s deputy superintendent for business and finance, compared the preparation of the budget to a marathon.
“We’re at mile 26.1. We started in January, so we’re tired. Toenails are bleeding, chafing in places I can’t mention for the sake of decency. We want to get this over with. This is a tough one,” Barajas said.
Trustee Karen Freeman thanked county staff for including a chart in their presentation showing that the property tax rate for business expenses has dropped 35% since 2015, largely due to changes in state law.
“It’s always good for our community to know that the M&O tax rate has dropped 35% over the last 10 years,” Freeman said. “That’s an incredible amount considering how high our tax rate is.”
Freeman also explained to the superintendent that it was not sustainable to continue to pass deficit budgets.
“No, it is not,” Craft said, adding that Northside needs to carefully rethink its priorities and continue to advocate for increased state funding.
When housing prices rise in Texas, schools don’t get more money. The amount of funding is set by the state, and when a larger portion of that funding comes from local sources, the state reduces its contributions.
Northside trustees also approved the final budget amendment for the 2023-2024 school year on Tuesday. The latest amendment reduced the district’s deficit for the final year to $52.1 million.
School districts draw on their reserves to cover shortfalls, usually from an account called a fund balance. The Texas Education Agency recommends that districts always have three months’ worth of expenses in their fund balance.
