Brittany Kelley
KYLE — The Hays CISD Board of Trustees voted unanimously to adopt the budget for the 2026-27 school year at its Monday, June 29 meeting.
Prior to the vote, Chief Financial Officer Deborah Ottmers presented the item at the June 22 meeting, first beginning by noting the demographics of the district. Currently, there are 25,400 students enrolled in 28 campuses, with more than 3,000 employees across 221 miles.
The three budgets required to be adopted by the board, which will reflect the $12.2 million cuts, as previously reported by the Hays Free Press, are:
• General fund:
- Revenue: $281,575,000
- Expenditures: $275,423,724
• School nutrition fund:
- Revenue: $$13,727,900
- Expenditures: $13,727,000
• Debt service fund:
- Revenue: $112,100,000
- Expenditures: $112,100,000
These total to $407,402,900 in revenue and $401,253,724 in expenditures.
“Even though the [general fund] budget has changed — revenues increased, expenditures increased — the anticipation is still that we’re going to keep that $25 million fund balance. When actuals happen, after we go through the audit, it’s going to change some because those are real numbers that are going to be hitting all the accounts, but it looks like it's on track to be very close to keeping that fund balance, which is ultra important,” said Ottmers.
This balance — which will rise to $37,387,051, due to the $12.2 million in cuts — she continued, is recommended to sit at 90 days worth of operating expenses, but is instead only at 33 days. The full 90-day amount would be estimated at $68 million, Ottmers said.
She also noted that at the end of the year, approximately 10 days will be added, potentially more, getting the district to its goal of reaching the 90-day balance in three to five years.
Regarding the funding amount provided by the state, the CFO stated that, if the district was able to be funded based on student enrollment of 25,400, it would receive more money: “The revenue and the expenditures per enrolled [student are] about $60 per student per day and so, when a student doesn’t come to school, we don’t get the $60, but we [still] spend the $60. So, for a financial standpoint, that's important. That’s why we would prefer to be paid on enrollment, not on attendance.”
The proposed 2026-27 tax rate is the same as 2025-26 at $1.1546 per $100 valuation, consisting of $0.6669 for maintenance and operations and $0.4877 in interest and sinking.
Trustee Raul Vela Jr. asked whether homestead exemptions affect the district when it comes to receiving these taxes, since they lower the amount of taxable property. “Yes and no,” responded Ottmers, explaining that the general fund nearly makes up the differences, but it could slightly affect the debt service fund.
“One of our largest challenges that we’ve been having the last several years [is] one of the changes in the law was refunds that are made to taxpayers and when those are made. So, they used to make them only at certain times of the year and those would be the times when cash flow was up, but, now, it’s whenever they have to make that refund. The tax office doesn’t have enough cash, [so] we actually send them money to make those refunds. That’s a time where our cash flow is lowest,” she shared.
Prior to the vote, trustee Byron Severance stated, "I know this is not the budget we'd like to do, but I think it's the one we have to do, based on our circumstances. I think we're all just committed to making it work to keep our focus on the true education of kids."
Severance motioned to adopt the general, debt service and school nutrition funds at the June 29 meeting, with trustee Esperanza Orosco seconding. The item passed 7-0.
The Hays CISD Board of Trustees will meet next Monday, July 27.
