By Kim Hilsenbeck
Despite the Texas State Legislature not restoring all of the public education money it defunded in the 81st session, Hays CISD Deputy Superintendent Carter Scherff told the school board last week, “We’re in very good shape right now.”
Based on Scherff’s recommendation, the Hays CISD Board of Trustees approved a $124.4 million budget for the 2013-2014 school year, about $6 million more than last year’s figure. Based on projected revenue of $122.6 million, Scherff said Hays CISD faces a $1.8 million deficit this year.
He said the district’s goal is to have a balanced budget in the 2014-2015 school year.
Scherff noted an increase in funding for the risk assessments and internal audits for the district in the budget, from $45,000 to $115,000.
Board Vice President Robert Limon said in a follow-up email, “As an auditor by trade, I think this [risk assessment and internal audit] is going to be a major deal for our district. We’ll have an independent set of eyes come in and look at different programs and operations and help us find ways to run the district more efficiently and to make sure we have best practices in place at all of our schools.”
He continued, “I think the comprehensive set of reviews...will better situate us for the tremendous growth we continue to experience.”
Hays is one of the fastest growing counties in the country, Scherff told the board.
The 2013-2014 budget, which does not include $7.4 million in food pass-through costs and approximately $24 million in the debt service fund, will support 17,021 currently enrolled students, though that number will likely increase.
“We will continue to grow in the next few weeks,” said Hays CISD spokesperson Tim Savoy.
The average enrollment last school year was about 16,500.
Scherff walked the board through the budget items, which included hiring new teachers and a raise for all employees.
“We’re dealing with funding that is significantly less than we would have been dealing with had the 81st legislature not changed the school finance law so much,” he said.
The board also adopted Scherff’s proposed tax rate of $1.0400 per $100 home valuation for Maintenance and Operations (M&O) and $.04213 on Interest and Sinking (I&S), for a total effective tax rate of $1.4613. This budget marks seven years in a row that Hays CISD has maintained the same tax rate.
Only one person spoke during the public forum portion of the meeting. Lehman teacher Steve Thompson, president of the Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE), thanked the trustees and district staff for their hard work on the budget.
“I was a member of the original 28-member Strategic Action Committee which drew up th e [Hays CISD] five-year plan and I just wanted to thank you,” he said. “Over 20-plus years in the district, I’ve been on a lot of committees and I don’t believe I’ve ever seen the kind of follow-up that we’ve had on the work of that committee. I hope we continue to follow that through to its completion.”
He said he’s heard each board member express a desire to increase staff salaries and thanked them for what they were about to do in terms of voting to approve raises across the board.
“Thank you for helping to make Hays CISD a great place to live, a great place to work and most of all, most importantly, a great place for kids to go to school,” he said.
During the discussion, board member Merideth Keller questioned Scherff on whether the proposed budget would allow the district to hire any additional teachers, citing issues with the student-teacher ratio in some elementary classes at Elm Grove and Buda that exceed the recommended state maximum of 22:1. Keller was particularly concerned with those ratios as they relate to kindergarten and first grade.
Scherff said he is keeping an eye on the enrollment number and the ratios. The district shifted a few teachers around during the first week of school, he said, including moving one teacher from Pfluger Elementary to Negley Elementary in fifth grade and moving another one from Kyle Elementary to Fuentes Elementary for Kindergarten.
In other board news:
With the recommendation of district staff, the Hays CISD board voted to establish a Growth Impact Committee to begin the conversation of building a new school. Based on a preliminary timeline for the committee, the issue could be on the election ballot as early as May 2014.
