Lamar CISD projects $537K surplus after avoiding initial budget shortfall

HOUSTON, Texas -- Lamar CISD has offset its anticipated shortfall in the proposed fiscal year 2024-25 budget and instead is looking at having a $537,740 surplus, Chief Financial Officer Jill Ludwig said at an Aug. 5 special board meeting.

The video above is from ABC13's 24/7 livestream.

This is a change from the June 25 board meeting, where Superintendent Roosevelt Nivens said the district was facing a potential $200,000 shortfall. This comes as 11 of 16 Greater Houston-area school districts covered by Community Impact face budget shortfalls in FY 2024-25.

The details

LCISD officials are projecting expenditures for the FY 2024-25 budget of $473.83 million and revenues of $473.29 million, Ludwig said.

A majority of LCISD's general fund revenue, 55.75%, comes from the state, with local property taxes making up roughly 43.89% and federal funding making up the smallest slice, according to the agenda documents.

Digging deeper

To calculate anticipated revenue from the state, Ludwig said staff are anticipating student enrollment to reach 46,174 in the upcoming school year - more than 1,600 additional students than the 44,512 enrollment reported in the 2023-24 school year, according to Texas Education Agency data.

Additionally, the frequency in which students attend classes, known as the average daily attendance, or ADA, also contributes to the amount of state funding LCISD receives. LCISD staff project the district's ADA will be at 94.5% next year, Ludwig said.

"The enrollment growth is really what keeps us going plus the attendance rate, so we got to keep the kids in the class," Ludwig said at the previous June 25 board meeting.

The breakdown

Most of the general fund - about 84% - is allocated for staff salaries, Ludwig said.

Ludwig said trustees adopted raises in late May for teachers and other staff that included:

• Upping the starting teacher salary from $62,500 to $64,100

• Providing a flat raise of $2,000 for teachers and other staff paid on the teacher salary schedule, which includes nurses, librarians, and counselors

• Giving a 3% raise for all other staff from the midpoint

What else

LCISD will propose a property tax rate of $1.1469 per $100 valuation, lower than FY 2023-24's rate of $1.1492.

The lower tax rate is due to the state's mandated compression, Ludwig said, which was approved in the 88th Texas Legislature to ease the financial burden of property tax payments on residents.

What's next

The board of trustees will consider approving the FY 2024-25 budget and proposed tax rate on Aug. 27, when a public hearing will also be held.

This article comes from our ABC13 partners at Community Impact Newspapers