Brittany Kelley
WIMBERLEY — The Wimberley ISD Board of Trustees approved its compensation plan for the 2026-27 school year at its July 27 meeting.
According to the presentation completed by Chief Financial Officer Michael Doyle, the district is currently estimating $37,062,253 of total operating revenues and $29,587,332 of total operating expenditures for the conclusion of its fiscal year (FY) 2025-26 budget. This difference is a fund balance of $7,353,413, which, when added to the beginning balance of $6,629,803, results in an ending fund balance of $13,983,216.
In an effort to understand funding, Doyle discussed estimated enrollment numbers, as this, along with attendance average, directly affects the district’s revenue available from the state legislature.
“School districts need to have students and then, they need to have the students attend class. When you look at roll-up numbers and anticipated students in our classes, you can see that in [20]27, we're anticipating an enrollment of about 2,612,” he said. “That ADA [or] average daily attendance rate is the driving factor in our revenue template … We’ve seen at our high school, a higher number of students graduating early, which is great and I’m glad that they’re able to finish their educational pathway, but once they finish, it affects our ADA rate. I wanted to build that projection now, so that way we’re not projecting higher and actually receiving lower [next school year].”
He then presented several payroll scenarios for potential approval in the compensation plan, including:
• A 2% pay increase for all employees
• Increasing the district’s health insurance contribution by $40, for a total of $390 per month
• Market-based salary adjustments across the district
• Increase bus driver pay to maintain compensation at 90% of the market
• Increase the starting teacher salary to $50,000 from the current $48,500
Trustee Rob Campbell asked whether staff considered increasing the starting pay even higher, since only several new teachers are hired each year, but Doyle stated that this can’t be done because it would outpace the other teachers, if this was the case.
“We looked at all positions and we wanted to provide a package that shows that we’re investing in our employees, investing in their benefits. We’re remaining competitive. We’re supporting retention, attracting those high-quality teachers for our district, as well, and staff, not just teachers, but all of our staff,” said Doyle.
Because of these changes, next year’s payroll expenditures would increase by approximately $423,000. This, along with an approximate increase of $200,000 in non-payroll expenditures, leads to a total operating expenditures cost of $30,378,488 for FY 2027, with $31,040,870 in revenue.
“When you take that estimated ending fund balance for this current year of $13.9 million, you’ll see that we’re about breaking even,” he shared, adding that there would still be $28,000 added to the fund balance, totaling $14 million.
The compensation plan passed 4-0. Trustees Chad Canine, Will Conley and Andrea Justus were not in attendance.
The presentation also detailed that the anticipated tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year is $1.0076 per $100 tax valuation, comprising of $0.7065 for maintenance and operations and $0.3011 for interest and sinking, though this will come back to the board in August for approval.
The Wimberley Board of Trustees will meet next Aug. 7.
