One in every five El Paso Independent School District elementary schools would close if the school board approves a plan unveiled by administrators Thursday night. The plan outlined by Superintendent Diana Sayavedra during a special Board of Trustees meeting would close 10 elementary campuses while adding resources to remaining schools. view article

Leander ISD has decided to close eight of its campuses due to ongoing repair work on a gas line along FM 620. view article

School safety remains a top concern for districts and while the state has made money for campus security improvements available, Conroe ISD officials say more funding is needed.  Conroe ISD trustees finalized its priorities Tuesday for the upcoming legislative session, including seeking an increase in the state allotment to provide funding for safety measures and mandated safety upgrades. House Bill 3, which went into effect in September 2023, made more than $1 billion available to public schools but only $10 per student for funding safety measures and $15,000 per campus.   view article

The Texas Education Agency has cleared acting Houston school district Superintendent Mike Miles of wrongdoing after he was accused of improperly diverting millions of dollars in state funds to his Colorado charter school system. After reporting from Spectrum News and The Texas Observer prompted calls for an investigation earlier this year, the education agency concluded on Tuesday that neither Miles — who the agency picked to lead the state’s largest school district last year — nor his charter school network, Third Future Schools, “violated any applicable Texas laws,” according to the 29-page investigation report. view article

Lewisville ISD is considering closing or consolidating as many as 20 campuses amid a budget shortfall and declining enrollment. The district faces a $4.5 million deficit and nearly 10,000 fewer students in the next decade, said Superintendent Lori Rapp and a Lewisville ISD committee looking into efforts to become more efficient. Closing or consolidating 20 campuses will be one possible result, said Rapp, to “right size” the district. view article

Leander ISD faces a nearly $30 million budget deficit next school year. The Texas legislature has not increased funding for public schools since 2019, and many school districts, like Leander ISD, say that's just not enough. view article

Lewisville ISD is considering closing or consolidating as many as 20 campuses amid a budget shortfall and declining enrollment. The district faces a $4.5 million deficit and nearly 10,000 fewer students in the next decade, said Superintendent Lori Rapp and a Lewisville ISD committee looking into efforts to become more efficient. Closing or consolidating 20 campuses will be one possible result, said Rapp, to “right size” the district. view article

Keller ISD is hoping to offset lunch debt for students following the district's announcement that it would begin serving "alternative meals" to students who have unpaid meal charges. "We simply want you to know that Keller ISD has and will continue to fill the gap by providing free breakfast and lunch, as we always have," the district said in a letter to parents on Friday. view article

More than half of the state’s school districts are facing budget shortfalls this year while also navigating the conclusion of federal stimulus funds, forcing districts to make hard decisions related to staffing and programming. In addition, districts are experiencing an increase in educators considering leaving the profession due to a lack of funds, increased class sizes, and lower salaries. “Inflation has affected every aspect of our operations, from construction costs to daily expenses. As a school district, we face the same challenges as households: rising utility bills, increased fuel costs for our buses, and higher prices for essential supplies. These real-world economic pressures have a significant impact on our budget," Prosper ISD Superintendent Holly Ferguson said. “School districts have to turn the lights on, we have to pay the water bill, we have to fuel buses. All those real-life things are happening in our schools as well.”   view article

More than half of the state’s school districts are facing budget shortfalls this year while also navigating the conclusion of federal stimulus funds, forcing districts to make hard decisions related to staffing and programming. In addition, districts are experiencing an increase in educators considering leaving the profession due to a lack of funds, increased class sizes and lower salaries.  “We have the unfunded safety mandates from the state that added to what we have to spend money on, we had decreased funding from the federal government for our school health and related services,” Georgetown ISD Superintendent Devin Padavil said. “It was this perfect storm of decreased revenue and increased expenses that have hit school districts, and there's no easy solution in sight.” view article

The calls started coming in Monday to the Houston Federation of Teachers, the largest workers' union in Houston ISD. Members had questions and concerns about their recently received paychecks, which were smaller than they had been this fall – in some cases by more than $300. The employees found out a day later they had been inadvertently overpaid by the largest school district in Texas, which told them Tuesday the most recent amounts are accurate. HISD also told the 4,000 or so impacted employees that, because of the previous overpayments, they would see deductions on subsequent paychecks. view article

Budget issues within Lewisville ISD are causing the district to consider school closures and boundary changes. During a Monday, Oct. 7, board of trustees meeting, LISD officials discussed plans to address potential campus closures or boundary changes. The district cited falling enrollment trends, current campus capacities, facility and staffing efficiency and attendance boundaries as reasons for the potential cutbacks. view article

Another North Texas school district is considering school closures and boundary changes to address declining enrollment and state funding issues. Lewisville Independent School District is facing a $4.5 million budget deficit. "And so if we do not make some financial changes, then what we would see is that deficit would grow," said Dr. Lori Rapp, the superintendent of LISD. view article

Beginning Oct. 21, the Keller Independent School District said it will begin serving an alternative meal to some students who have unpaid meal charges. The district said this applies to students across all grade levels with unpaid lunch balances greater than $25. "Keller ISD schools want to first ensure that all students have access to nutritious meals during school hours regardless of financial circumstances, while also addressing costly negative balances that may be accrued," the district said in a letter to parents. view article

Round Rock Independent School District trustee Mary Bone has released a video containing bribery allegations against Board President Amber Feller. view article

The newest report from Truth in Accounting graded all U.S. states’ financial positions, placing Texas at 26 out of 50 states and giving it a financial grade of “C.” view article

Keller ISD board members voted unanimously to authorize defeasance, or paying down the principal, of debt at their Sept. 26 meeting. The move should save the district an estimated $3.4 million. During his presentation to the board, Chief Operations Officer John Allison said the district worked with its financial advisor, Hilltop Securities, to identify opportunities for savings on interest and sinking debt based on current market conditions. view article

Bryan ISD school board members at its last meeting (September 23) approve this year’s health insurance plans and rates. The district’s share of the cost rose six percent, while premiums for BISD employees increased three percent. Before the board’s unanimous vote, was discussion about one unidentified free standing emergency room billing Bryan ISD almost $21 million dollars in the last three years. view article

Budget issues have prompted the Coppell Independent School District to close an elementary campus, despite dozens of parents trying to stop that from happening. view article

Coppell trustees narrowly voted to close its oldest elementary school Monday night, with district leaders lamenting the painful decision as necessary because of a financial squeeze triggered by declining enrollment and stagnant state funding. The trustees’ decision devastated Pinkerton Elementary families, who said the closure means children will attend campuses farther from their homes and away from their friends next year. view article

Argyle ISD will host several opportunities for families and the community to learn more about its School Funding Referendum that will be presented to voters in the November election. view article

McAllen ISD Deputy Superintendent for Business and Operations Lorena Garcia gave a preliminary fund balance report this week for the school year 2023-2024 which included an unprecedented surplus of around $32 million at the end of the year. “When we came in here we had, last year, a $6 million deficit and then a $14 million deficit this year which was a total of $20 million … but now we can safely say that with this savings we have wiped out the deficit,” MISD Superintendent René Gutiérrez said during the meeting. “This is not counting that we gave everyone a raise … not too many school districts can report these types of finances. We will continue to monitor (the finances) and we would like to give this money back to the kids and to the staff.” view article

Upgrades to the system Texas uses to collect student, staff and financial data from school districts are causing serious concerns among school administrators and data specialists across the state who say the changes have led to thousands of unresolved errors that could potentially cause them to lose out on state funding. Each of Texas’ more than 1,200 school districts is required to regularly submit data to the state, including information on attendance, enrollment, students who receive special education, children experiencing homelessness and the number of kids who have completed a college preparatory course. State officials use the information to determine whether schools are meeting performance standards and how much funding they receive each year. view article

Humble ISD officials began the 2024-25 school year on Aug. 7 with an emphasis on food services spending, which officials said helped lead to a $15 million shortfall in this year’s budget. HISD Chief Financial Officer Billy Beattie noted around $36.2 million of the district’s $651 million budget for fiscal year 2024-25 is allocated toward various food services projects. view article

Round Rock ISD board members on June 17 adopted a $467.42 million general operating budget for fiscal year 2021-22. The general operating fund budget includes $444.53 million in revenues and $467.42 million in expenses, creating a deficit in this fund of $17.2 million, RRISD Chief Financial Officer Kenneth Adix said. view article

State lawmakers were prepared for a budget crunch, since the COVID-19 pandemic slashed revenues from sales taxes, energy taxes, and other sources. The question they now face is how to close the shortfall without choking off long-term growth.  The answer is far from clear, but it’s certain to involve cuts to popular programs.  In fact, such cuts are what's expected this session. The state comptroller's office says lawmakers need to close a shortfall of nearly $1 billion in revenues. And Republican state Sen. Brandon Creighton of Conroe, who serves on the Senate Finance Committee, noted that Gov. Greg Abbott has asked state agencies to reduce budgets by 5%. view article

Bryan ISD's Board of Trustees have approved a one-time $500 supplement for their salaried employees. Teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses, administrators and professional staff receive their pay bonus on their Dec 15 paycheck. view article

Texas pre-K programs are just scraping by after losing millions of dollars last year — and without sustainable funding, they could see greater problems down the line, school officials say. During the 2017 legislative session, lawmakers decided not to fund a $118 million high-quality pre-K grant program that was created in 2015 and championed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. The money had gone to 573 districts and charter schools that pledged to meet measures such as setting a lower student-teacher ratio, avoiding Common Core curricula and reporting student progress to the state. view article

Burnet school district officials were probably expecting to get more than two years from the synthetic turf installed at Bulldog Field in 2015, but that didn’t happen and it’s now set the district back $150,000. Burnet Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Keith McBurnett, however, said the district is looking to get $105,000 back from one manufacturer. Last year, officials noticed some turf fibers sticking up higher than others, so they took a closer look, McBurnett said. “To most people, it probably wasn’t noticeable,” he said. “We had all the experts look at the field, and they looked at the backside. It needed to be replaced.” view article

On Saturday, voters who live within the Houston ISD will go to the polls to determine how - or if - the district will pay the state millions in "recapture" fees. Whatever voters decide on Proposition 1, the Houston ISD will take a financial hit, officials say. Recapture, and school finance, can be difficult to grasp. To help, here are the answers to some questions about the ballot measure. view article

The Round Rock school district awarded $1.9 million in grants to 34 campuses to help foster innovation in schools through programs, models or initiatives that enrich learning. The grants range from $7,500 to $100,000 and support the district’s strategic goal of implementing, enhancing and reinforcing innovative teachings and learning models, according to a district news release. view article

Fort Bend ISD is going to begin serving up something different for some students who continually fail to pay for their lunches -- a cold cheese sandwich with a side of milk, and that's not sitting well with some parents. We're not talking about students who qualify for free school meals. But apparently, these repeat offenders have gotten so "forgetful" that it's draining the district's budget by hundreds of thousands of dollars. view article

The Garland school district’s $453.8 million budget for 2015-16 passed this week. Here are the highlights: Taxes are going up: There’s a 10-cent per $100 valuation tax increase tied to theNovember 2014 passage of a $455 million bond package. Garland ISD previously had the second-lowest tax rate among 16 districts that tax in Dallas County; the bond will bring that closer to the midpoint. view article

The Lampasas Independent School District met Monday to discuss the district’s fiscal year 2016 budget and proposed tax rates. “My idea was still to give everyone a tax break, but to make it 1 cent right now, and we could change it in a year if we need to,” board member Sam Walker said. “I think we are jumping the gun by dropping it 2 cents.” view article

Marfa ISD is taking a proactive approach toward its potential Chapter 41 status, which would classify the district as a “rich” school. Chief Financial Officer Victoria Sanchez discussed with the board of trustees at the June 15 meeting five different options they could possibly choose for the Chapter 41 status and heavily stressed that the board should consider each option carefully as three of them would have permanent repercussions. view article