Even With Tax Increase, Austin ISD Will Need Significant Spending Cuts

An Austin ISD classroom (screenshot via kocurek.austinschools.org)

School is still supposed to be out for summer but Austin ISD’s budget problems are so bad that the board of trustees is already back to work.

The board’s July 25 meeting was billed as another discussion of the VATRE – the Voter Approved Tax Rate Election the trustees will almost certainly approve next week. The VATRE will ask Austin voters to say yes to a property tax increase which could bring an additional $40 million into the district next year. But even if that extra money comes, the district will still be $78 million in the red – and everyone already knows this.

So Thursday’s meeting was less an exploration of the VATRE and more an appeal to the public to tune into a different, less-known reality: That no matter what happens with the VATRE, the district will need to make painful budget cuts for the next two years.

That being the case, the district is prepping the public by explaining where the cuts might come from. AISD’s Jacob Reach presented 23 separate possibilities to the trustees. Some of the heftier ones include: eliminating planning breaks for teachers in elementary schools (projected savings: $8 million); closing and consolidating schools ($1 million to $1.5 million per school); reducing bus service ($6 million); eliminating staff positions ($4 million); and laying off nurses ($2.5 million).

The district already trimmed $30 million in last year’s budget, mostly by eliminating positions in the central office. As that process unfolded, district leaders stressed that they wanted to reduce the impact on teachers and classrooms. On Thursday, Reach said that this time the district wants to avoid ending programs entirely or enacting large, across-the-board cuts. But he admitted that there is very little fat left on the bone, acknowledging that further cuts could reduce the numbers of teachers and staff, something that would lower the quality of instruction.

“As an organization whose overall budget is 89 percent staffing, with a majority of that being teachers and classified staff [such as custodians and bus drivers], we do know that there’s going to have to be some changes that affect our people and campuses,” Reach said. “When we think through eliminating or changing programs or changing how we’re doing business, we’re talking about individual people, who we recognize play very important roles in supporting our students.”

After Reach’s presentation, Trustee Kevin Foster questioned the value of raising property taxes through a VATRE if the district will still need to make such deep cuts. He asked Superintendent Matias Segura for more clarity on how the district views the possible cuts. Segura replied that the 23 possibilities presented by Reach are just that – possibilities – and that the public must guide the district in deciding which cuts to make.

“We are not at a point where we’re going to give a recommendation on cuts,” Segura said. “The plan is that we go through the process. We’ll bring fiscal recommendations before the board in late September, early October, and the plan will have multiple phases in it. All the cuts in our operations can’t be taken in this current fiscal year – it’s going to be a multi-year process. My hope would be to identify at least $30 million in this existing fiscal year to be considered and then $40 million the following year.”

Segura said that AISD will listen to the community and pull in representatives from various advisory committees to provide input. The district is also auditing its operations, something that could identify less painful ways to trim the budget. And some cuts might be unnecessary if the Texas Legislature increases funding to public schools next year.

Board president Arati Singh noted that the 23 items listed by Reach total about $80 million – essentially the same number as the deficit, if voters approve a VATRE. “I just want to make sure people understand that ... if we did every single thing on this list that has a dollar amount next to it and passed the VATRE, that’s what it would take for us to have a balanced budget,” Singh said. “Now imagine if we don’t pass a VATRE. It would be even worse than this. So the whole point of this exercise is for people to be in this headspace of like, 'Yeah, we’re gonna have to make some really, really, really hard decisions.’”