Nacogdoches ISD trustees adopted on June 20 a $62.5 million budget for the upcoming 2024-25 fiscal year that begins July 1. The proposed property tax rate of $1.1397 per $100 of property valuation will not be formally set until later this summer when Texas Education Agency finalizes tax rates after certified property values are released.
The new budget is balanced with no deficit spending but does represent a decrease in spending of nearly 2 percent from the previous year.
“We do have a balanced budget for Nacogdoches ISD,” Superintendent Dr. Gabriel Trujillo said during the board meeting. “Unfortunately, that’s not the case across the state of Texas. A lot of our peers – and my heart and my sentiment goes out to a lot of superintendents to school districts across the state – that had to adopt a deficit budget.”
The budget includes at least a 2 percent increase in annual compensation for all NISD staff. Bus drivers received more, as the district struggles to fill open positions within the transportation department. Compensation for drivers increased 22.5 percent in the new budget, and the starting pay is now $20 per hour.
The board meeting held June 20 was also the last for NISD’s Chief Financial Officer Lisa Barbarick, who’s retiring at the end of June. Trujillo acknowledged the work of Barbarick – and her business office staff – in placing NISD in as strong a financial position as possible during what’s proving to be challenging times in Texas for public education funding.
“And we would be there with [other Texas districts] if not for the work – and not just this year but in previous years – that Lisa you’ve done in your job as CFO,” Trujillo said. “We would not be where we are without your work and the work of your department.”
Hundreds of Texas school districts have adopted deficit budgets during the last year as state funding has failed to keep up with rising costs. The basic allotment – the guaranteed amount of money each Texas school district can expect from the state – has remained at $6,160 per student since 2019.
The increasing pressure on the budgeting process meant NISD had to make difficult decisions about funding in the new year, Trujillo said.
“I want to make sure the community hears that we got to a balanced budget not because we had the funds but because we did the work that needed doing to arrive here,” he said. “Let me remind you some of the things that it impacted… for us to arrive at this balanced budget it impacted instruction, it impacted instructional resources, curriculum and development and staff development, student transportation, extracurricular activities, general administration, security and monitoring.”
In addition to crediting Barbarick and her staff for their work, Trujillo acknowledged other innovative work the district has done, such as partnering with Stephen F. Austin State University’s School of Social Work to make sure each NISD campus has a social worker at each school.
Grants at the state level, Trujillo said, have helped pay for having a law enforcement officer at each campus – a new law mandated by the Texas Legislature that came with little additional funding. During the 2023 legislative session, Texas approved new funding of $10 per student – up from $9.72 the previous year – for safety and security along with an additional $15,000 per campus.
“Through these grants, we were able to fulfill this requirement,” Trujillo said.
While the budget has been finalized, Trujillo told board members that further adjustments might be necessary once students arrive in August. Trujillo said NISD will not depend upon long-term class-size waivers if additional staff are needed on campuses.