Brittany Kelley
KYLE — The Hays CISD Board of Trustees unanimously voted to approve preliminary budgeting decisions for the 2026-27 fiscal year, amounting to $12.25 million in cuts, at its March 30 meeting.
Prior to item discussion, several community members took to public comment to voice their concerns, including a McCormick Middle School student, who expressed that playing on two sports teams the year prior is what motivated him to come to school. These coaches are also teachers, he continued, one of whom inspired him to take an engineering course in high school.
“Because of them, I work hard in class every day to try my best on and off the field. Ive been putting in the work to get better and move up [teams] next year, but with these changes, I wonder [what will happen] … Many of [my friends] can't afford to play outside of school because of the costs … I [also] wonder how many students will stop showing up when they don’t have something to look forward to.”
A Hays CISD educator, Jessie Hartgrave, spoke on the effects coming toward teachers, specifically those that will lose stipends for their work in the special education (SPED) department.
“SPED is one of the most difficult jobs to get filled; that’s why this stipend exists. If we take away these stipends, it will take away good, qualified teachers and it will take away good, qualified SPED and inclusion teachers, as well,” said Hartgrave. “[Teachers] are the only group that is being asked to take less money next year than we were paid this year, not [Superintendent Dr. Eric] Wright, who is a top-10 earner of superintendents in the state of Texas, not his cabinet and not the people that work in this [administration] building. The teachers are the ones being asked to take the cut and it’s not fair.”
He also added that the district has “bonded the community to death” in regard to the several bonds that have been brought forward in recent years.
Tobias Elementary School fifth grade teacher Ruah Gleason shared that she is concerned about the number of students who will be in the classrooms, as soon, her new reality will be 27 11-year-olds in one room. This will prevent teachers from being able to provide the best education, she said, adding that they are being asked to do less with more.
“What’s being proposed is not only disappointing, it’s truly unacceptable. Let’s be clear about the facts. Hays CISD has consistently grown exponentially each and every year. At the same time, funding pressures from expiring federal dollars, shifts in revenue and other factors were not sudden, nor were they unpredictable. These were known realities, yet the plan before us is asking students and campuses to absorb the consequences of that lack of planning,” said Fabiola Sanchez, Parent Teacher Student Association president at McCormick Middle School.
According to Wright, the process to begin discussing budget cuts started after the failed tax ratification election (TRE) in November last year. The district was initially projecting a need to cut $20 million per year for three years, or 200 positions, to make the budget sustainable moving forward, but expanding from three to five years has allowed the cuts to lessen.
Wright then covered the history of funding, reminding the board that prior to the most recent legislative session, the basic student allotment kept its pre-pandemic funding of $6,160. Now, it is at $6,215, though, to keep pace with inflation, the increase would have needed to be $1,000. This funding from the state is placed into the district’s maintenance and operations (M&O) funding, which is the bucket that pays salaries, buys fuel, pays bills and more, he said. This is the only discretionary money the district has, as the other is dictated to state-specified categories that the school is then annually audited on.
The other bucket — which is what many get confused by, said Wright — is the interest and sinking fund. This is sponsored locally and is how athletic facilities and other additions are paid for.: “I would love to take the money that we spend on the track and the turf and pay salaries with it, but by law I can’t do that … So, today, we aren’t talking about the interest and sinking part or any of the bond elections or the money that built this building or any of that. We’re talking about money for operations and salaries.”
Comparing Texas to the other states, the national average is $17,870 per student, but in Texas, including earmarked funding, it’s $14,104, said Wright, ranking the state at 38/50. As far as how much money is spent on each student, the average is $9,861, while Texas is $5,835, landing it at 47/50.
“Since 2019/2020, Texas has increased M&O funding by $12.05 billion. Of that amount, $11.67 billion is absorbed by retention allotments, student growth, state mandates, hold harmless funding, programs for certain districts, teachers and students and previously unfunded employee pay increases. This leaves $380 million in net M&O funding for other operating increases, equal to $69 per student,” read the presentation.
The superintendent said if the state was keeping pace with inflation, it would have been $1,000. Instead, it’s at $69.
Regarding staffing numbers, Wright noted that residents comment that the district is “top heavy” when it comes to staffing administration, but that the state average is 4.7%, while the district has cut its down to 3.4%.
Additionally, he shared that the tax rate has decreased from $1.4677 to $1.1546 since 2020: “That’s why we thought we might have an outside chance of getting our taxpayers to vote for the TRE because the tax rate has been decreased every single year, but it’s just bad timing and the voters spoke.”
Moving onto the proposed plan, Wright said that staff shifted to five years as compared to the original three, “so the pain wouldn’t be felt all at one time” and instead of taking an axe to programs they “took a scalpel to them.”
“None of the cuts that we’re going to recommend are good. They all are harmful, but it’s at a point where we have to be sustainable and we have to get this account back up, so that we can continue to pay the payroll and continue to pay the bills,” he said.
These propositions would be implemented in the 2026-27 school year and would be saving $12.25 million. Wright stated that if the district can make the proposed cuts this year and earmark it in the budget for the next four years, then it will be able to put $90 million back into the fund balance. The fund balance is necessary because the district has months where no income is coming in, due to when state and tax payments are distributed, so this is to fill that void.
From this $90 million, $25 million is needed to open up the new schools, which have also been pushed back from the original opening dates. Now, Comprehensive High School #4 and Middle School #7 would open in 2030, while Elementary School #18 would open in 2028.
Trustee Johnny Flores asked how McCormick and Johnson High School will be affected, since they were the primary schools that were looking for relief when it came to these new facilities. Wright stated that because the demographers estimate on students was incorrect this year, due to low enrollment, the schools have less students than expected. So, it can be held off, but when the maximum number of students is reached, then they will begin the cap and overflow model, which includes sending students to campuses that are not as full.
The cuts that are recommended are as follows:
Central office and district staff personnel cuts: $2,689,539
• Reduces district from two deputy superintendents to one.
• Restructures the Curriculum and Instruction Department leadership team by eliminating deputy academic officer positions and reclassifying the leadership positions into a lower pay grade.
• Reduces total number of central office positions by 5%
Increased class sizes: $5,040,000
• Increases student to teacher ratio in Pre-Kindergarten to fourth grade up to 24:1.
• Increases student to teacher ratio in fifth grade up to 27:1.
• Increases student to teacher ratio in sixth through 12th grade up to 30:1.
• Reduces needed teacher positions by 63 districtwide (to be absorbed predominantly through attrition).
Fine arts and athletics reductions: $826,700
• Reduces the number of secondary fine arts positions at most secondary campuses
• Reduces total districtwide athletic budget by 8.5%
• Reduces the number of athletics teams offered at secondary campuses by removing “C” and some “B” teams.
• Eliminates stadium manager stipend.
Suspension of certain staff stipends, incentives and surcharge payment coverage: $2,284,105
• Suspends select staff stipends and incentives until an unknown future fiscal year, which includes: $1,500 special education recruitment/retention incentive, $1,500 bilingual recruitment/retention incentive and stipends for teachers with masters — $2,000 each annually — and doctoral degrees — $4,500 each annually.
• Requires retired employees who are rehired to pay the Teacher Retirement System surcharge costs.
• Requires employees to begin paying the necessary fees and paycheck deductions previously covered by the district out of their Teacher Incentive Allotment payments.
Restructuring of attendance and Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) reporting: $550,932
• Reduces the number of PEIMS clerks by half and centralizes duties.
• Reduces the number of days worked each school year for attendance clerk positions.
Library and social services reductions: $860,000
• Consolidates secondary campus librarians, reducing the number of district librarians by seven.
• Cuts the Communities in Schools (CIS) social services program in half.
“We tried to make our cuts as equal as possible throughout the district, so that we could still have a functional and high performing school district,” said Wright.
“The hardest thing for me on this list is the increased class sizes,” said trustee Courtney Runkle. “There’s nothing about it I like. My kid sits in those classes, too, and I’ve been in them and they are full. But what I do know is that I know that we have amazing teachers and I know that our teachers always figure it out, unfortunately because that’s what they’ve had to do. We’re going to figure it out again and they’re going to give the best quality education to our students.”
For staff members that will be affected, whether losing money, days or entire jobs, the superintendent shared that the Human Resources Department met with them to have a face to face discussion. Although still impacting them, he emphasized that the district wanted to let them know as soon as possible, so that they could begin making the necessary changes for themselves, since this won’t take place until next school year.
Hays CISD is also allowing those losing their jobs to apply for other positions within the district internally.
For the extracurricular activities, Wright said that staff didn’t want to remove any of the programs, so they didn’t. However, this does mean that coaches will have to think differently about them now. For example, C Teams will be removed, but this would increase the number of students on the A and B teams instead. There was also a coach recommendation of having a fifth quarter during games, so those that didn’t get to play in the first four quarters would still have the opportunity to play.
Furthermore, because fees will be introduced, a sliding scale could be brought forward based on students that receive free and reduced lunch.
Runkle stated that if anything is going to change with these activities, such as costs, then communication needs to be made clear immediately because the PTAs, booster clubs and parents are already planning for next year.
The affected library services were chosen from data, said Wright. At the elementary schools, circulation is high, since students are learning how to read. The same isn’t true at the middle and high school levels. Because of this, it was decided that a lead librarian would be implemented for all middle schools and all high schools, while keeping the library technicians.
Along with the cuts, Wright explained that the situation could be aided by improving attendance performance. Currently, the district sits at 93.7% attendance. For every 1% the district can raise its attendance rate, it receives $1.5 million in funding. He also said that an online program is being explored and will be sent out on surveys that could potentially pick up other students, including families that have been impacted by or are concerned about Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Hays CISD could also ask for another TRE election. Even $0.03 would add $12 million a year to the district’s budget, said Wright.
“I want to address the elephant in the room and that’s Dr. Wright’s salary. I want to tell you why that is. I sat on the two days of interviews when we hired him in 2016 and y’all, there wasn’t a close second that came before us. This [situation] could be a lot worse, if we didn’t have the leadership that we do. He’s paid well and that’s because, otherwise, other school districts would steal him,” said trustee Vanessa Petrea.
Those on the board also touched on the failure of the Texas Legislature to provide funding for schools, emphasizing that Hays CISD is not the only district facing these challenges.
“We tell you to go advocate at the state level, [and] absolutely go advocate at the state level, but advocacy alone isn’t going to balance our budget, so we have to do both. So, here we are doing both. This administration has tried really hard to protect the environment of the classroom,” Runkle stressed. “Our teachers do more and more. Our staff is asked to do more and more. Our district is not unique to other districts, especially in the state of Texas … We did hope that the state was going to come through. We shouldn’t have hoped.”
“Instead of just funding general public education, they’re trying to fund three different tiers now. They have public schools, they have charters and now, they’re going to have vouchers. There’s just not enough money to go around to fund all three and do quality,” said Wright.
Flores echoed this, stating that a continuous cycle has been created by the legislature creating unfunded mandates that take away from funding and create uproar in communities, while then offering vouchers for private schools.
Despite these frustrations, Flores concluded that, “When we say 100% Hays CISD, that’s exactly what we mean and we are going to get through this.”
Trustee Byron Severance motioned to approve the item, followed by a second from Petrea. It passed 7-0.
For more information on the budget cuts, visit www.hayscisd.net/o/hcisd/page/reductions2026.
