STAFF REPORT
The Hays CISD Board of Trustees passed a $111.1 million budget last week.
The 2011-12 general budget includes no tax increases and is balanced with a $1.3 million surplus. It increases the district’s contribution to employee health care premiums, provides for a teacher salary increase and up to a 3 percent raise for other employees.
“This budget represents the culmination of nine months of work in the midst of the greatest public education funding crisis in the history of Texas,” Superintendent Dr. Jeremy Lyon said in a news release. “Throughout this time of uncertainty we have stayed true to moving forward with our strategic initiatives and in working collaboratively with our staff and the community to preserve and promote educational quality.”
Last March, the district, along with most in Texas, made significant budget cuts in preparation for an anticipated reduction in state funding. It ended up equaling about $7 million for Hays CISD for the next school year and an additional $10.7 million in 2012–13. The cuts included the elimination of several dozen non-classroom teaching positions.
Three key academic initiatives funded by the budget include expanding STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) instruction at the middle school level, paying for advanced placement exams for every student enrolled in advanced placement classes in the district, and providing intervention funding for the district’s new Campus Excellence System – a way to chart, analyze, and improve the educational product at each school.
