While the majority of school districts across the state continue to operate within budget deficits this school year, Round Rock ISD is bucking that trend.
During last week's school board meeting, officials said the balanced budget adopted for fiscal year 2024-25 is projected to actually turn into a surplus of about $8.2 million.
The projected surplus is due in large part to the impending sale of 7.5 acres of district property on Cypress Boulevard in Round Rock.
The district expects to close on the $9.3 million sale sometime in March, Dennis Covington, Round Rock ISD's chief financial officer, said at the meeting.
"We are fortunate that we had this property that we could sell, and that really there’s no use for it for the district," Round Rock ISD Superintendent Hafedh Azaiez told KUT.
"We are fortunate that we had this property that we could sell, and that really there’s no use for it for the district."Hafedh Azaiez, Round Rock ISD superintendent
Azaiez also said the district has no intention of spending the extra money any time soon.
"We are trying to be cognizant of the fact that we have to be the best steward of our tax payers’ money," he said. "So the goal is to really keep that money as a surplus and put it in our fund balance for future use in case of emergencies."
Last summer, KUT News surveyed 22 school districts in Hays, Williamson and Travis counties about their budgets for the 2024-25 school year. Round Rock ISD was among the three districts that reported balanced budgets for the fiscal year. The other two were Jarrell ISD and Thrall ISD.
But Azaiez told KUT the process was not easy. The district had to make roughly $30 million in spending cuts to get there.
"We made those difficult decisions, and that's how we got there, right? That's how we ended up presenting to our board a balanced budget." he said. "But I don't want anybody to think that that was an easy thing, or we just we were lucky. I mean, again, we're blessed in many ways, but we had to make difficult decisions."
Those decisions included reducing departmental and campus-level budgets for things such as instructional technology and behavioral services, as well as freezing the hiring process for unfilled or reassigned staff positions.
Now, Azaiez said, the district is also beginning to think about next year's budget.
At last week's board meeting, Round Rock ISD Trustee Amber Landrum expressed concern about the district's fund balance, or savings account, despite the projected surplus.
She suggested the district explore other opportunities to sell unused property to further cushion its savings.
"As we're entering budget season, [I'm] looking at every opportunity that we have to go as lean as we can," she said. "Because I would rather sell property than make decisions that are going to affect our kids."
Nearby Austin ISD is also exploring monetizing district property. Last year, the school board voted to deem the former Rosedale School campus as "surplus" — paving the way for officials to lease or sell the 4.62-acre tract of land.
The district began the school year with a $41 million budget deficit — despite making $29 million in spending cuts.
