School Funding

The school boards in Austin ISD and Manor ISD each called tax rate elections for Nov. 5 to help cover the cost of raising staff salaries. Both districts are facing multimillion-dollar budget deficits.

Manor ISD staff will begin getting time off for mental health during the 2024-2025 school year. The district is looking for creative ways to increase benefits for staff while facing a budget deficit.

Pretty much everything costs more than it did in 2019. But in Texas, public schools are still getting the same amount of funding they got four years ago.

The chamber will likely have to negotiate with the House over key differences in their spending plans, namely how to lower property taxes.

Texas lawmakers are set to consider legislation this year that would allow families to use taxpayer money to send their kids to nonpublic schools. Democrats and rural Republicans have previously blocked efforts to get school choice bills across the finish line.

Pflugerville ISD in the Austin area is looking at shuttering one elementary school to save money, but it’s not the only district considering closures. Declining enrollment and stagnant state funding are leaving many districts with tight budgets and in some cases budget deficits.

State tax systems are usually looked at as a three-legged stool — property taxes, sales taxes and personal income tax. In Texas, our “stool” only has two legs.

Originally, PfISD administrators asked the school board to consider closing two to three schools. But on Thursday, Superintendent Douglas Killian suggested closing one to two schools instead.

The budget bills filed Wednesday would also allocate $600 million to the Texas Education Agency to help school districts “in implementing school safety initiatives.”

The PfISD school board is considering closing several elementary schools to save money as the district faces a multimillion-dollar budget deficit. Trustees are expected to make a decision next month.