KISD Board of Trustees oversees balanced budget

Crunching numbers at budget time is no easy task for any school. But Kilgore school district is putting the finishing touches on a $27.8 million budget — about 1 percent more than the district expects to spend this year.

Revard Pfeffer, KISD business manager, said KISD will spend an estimated $27,588,574 in the current budget year. That number will exceed income by approximately $205,000. The budget proposed for 2009-10 budget is $27,834,891, will be balanced.

The major expenditure difference between the new budget and the old is pay raises for employees.

"Payroll is the largest portion of any budget — 82.464 percent of this year's budget to be exact," said Pfeffer. "This year's payroll will be $22,953,769."

Only about a third of the school district's income comes from the state, Pfeffer said.

According to a handout given to the KISD Board of Trustees at Wednesday night's budget workshop, in 2008-09 the district's income included $18,443,095 from local sources, $9,296,796 funded from the state, $85,000 from the federal government and $10,000 from other sources.

Pfeffer said local funding comes from taxes on property values assessed within the school district. Everyone who owns real estate pays ad valorem tax and the school district sets a tax rate each year to determine how much money the district property owners will pay.

KISD looks this year to lower its tax rate, which will save KISD taxpayers approximately $170,000, but Terry George, president of the KISD board of trustees, said he is upset about how this figure is projected to the public.

"It is required by law, set by the Texas Legislature, that a school board present it in the newspaper and at the board meeting as follows: 'I move that the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of maintenance and operations tax rate of $1.04 and a debt service rate of $0.0692, total of $1.1092, which is effectively a 5.16 percent increase in the tax rate,'" said George. "Then it will say, 'The tax rate will effectively be raised by 5.16 percent and will raise taxes for maintenance and operations on a $100,000 home by approximately $34.88.'"

George said the required announcement misleads the public. KISD is lowering its property tax rate this year and if KISD taxpayers' taxes go up, it is because property values went up, not because of a tax rate increase by KISD, he said.

Pfeffer said the public also generally believes KISD keeps all its tax revenue.

Technically it does, he says, but if taxable property values go up and the district's tax income goes up by, say, $500,000, then the state reduces its contribution by an equal amount.

For every dollar KISD raises in taxes above last year, the state takes away one dollar of its funding.

One bright spot KISD took away from last year is an increased attendance rate. Pfeffer said the district last year had its highest attendance rate in 13 years with 3,782 students.

"KISD gets $4,979 per student in WADA funding — WADA stands for 'weighted average daily attendance,'" said Pfeffer. "This year, the state raised the amount each school district gets per student by $120."

Jody Clements, superintendent, said enrollment numbers are looking good for the start of the new school year.

"At Chandler in the first grade, if the numbers hold, every class is at 20 students," said Clements. "The concern, which is a good concern, is if the numbers continue to rise, it will be adding additional classes at Chandler, because the maximum students per class is 21."

Clements said as the school year begins, these numbers will be monitored and if additional classrooms are needed, trustees will discuss purchasing portable buildings to house the additional students.

Pfeffer said, however, just because students have registered doesn't mean they will show up on that first day of school, so the district will proceed with caution because more classrooms means more teachers, which translates to more costs.

Another item brought out during the budget workshop was teachers' pay raises. This year teachers will receive their step increases as well as mandated pay increases by the state, said Pfeffer.

"KISD will be posting the new pay scale as soon as possible on our web site," he said. "The new raises will differ between employees, ranging from $1,200 to $2,300 per teacher. Also non-teacher pay raises will be approximately set at 3 percent."

A portion of the teachers' raises this year was mandated by the state. According to Pfeffer, required programs keep increasing, but funding for those programs is sketchy. At this point, what percentage the state will pay is unknown, but the State Board of Education is scheduled to address this issue during its September meeting.

Mandated programs include not only standard classroom instruction, but gifted and talented programs, career and technology, special education, bilingual and compensatory education, said Pfeffer.

One gray area KISD is still dealing with is where to use the federal stimulus money it has received.

"We are still looking at all of our options, especially making sure what we do with the money is legal and falls within the federal guidelines for the use of stimulus money," said Pfeffer.

Clements said this year's budget includes no major projects to be funded, and the only large-ticket purchase items are two new buses and continuing roof maintenance.

"We have included in this year's budget approximately $200,000 for use on various projects that principals have listed as sort of a 'wish list' on each campus," said Clements. "However the board has directed this money not be used too quickly until KISD is sure all other areas are covered, which also includes possible new buildings and teachers at Chandler Elementary."

As of this date, Pfeffer said the general fund stands at $6,925,000; the new budget year begins Oct. 1.

The new budget and tax rate are set to be adopted on Aug. 31 when trustees meet at 6 p.m. As for all KISD Board of Trustee meetings, the public is welcomed and encouraged to attend.