Austin - Community Impact Newspaper

24 | July 2009 Community Impact Newspaper • Northwest Austin Edition
PISD
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districts take in less revenue that could
be used to hire staff, expand programs or
invest in new technology.
“The good news is that our schools are not
“Everyone [other school districts]
around us gets more, and when
you multiply by 20,000 students,
that’s a lot of net revenue that
would be very helpful for us in our
budgeting.”
— Vernagene Mott
Pflugerville ISD Board of Trustees member
bursting at the seams as we expected they
could be,” PISD Superintendent Charles
Dupre said. “The bad news is it’s having a
detrimental impact on the bottom line of
our budget.”
As a result, district officials pushed back
the opening date of Jose Riojas Elementary
School from this year to August 2010.
Administrators are adopting measures to
make up for decreased revenue projections.
Dupre said that by not opening Riojas Elementary,
PISD will save between $750,000
and $1 million in staff and operating costs.
The district also scaled back the number
of counselors on middle school campuses
and reassigned nine technology instructors
for the coming year. Some staff positions will
remain unfilled and spending on travel and
summer school programs will be reduced.
Dupre and other administrators said that
despite the unanticipated dip in projected
growth, the district’s recently reconfigured
curriculum and other factors have led to increases
in academic performance.
Growth affects funding
Enrollment in Pflugerville schools increased
dramatically as the city’s population
expanded over the last decade, and the
district’s forecast assumed growth would
continue at a similar rate. Dupre said the
nationwide economic downturn that began
last year put an unexpected damper on enrollment
because fewer families have been
able to move to the area.
A 2007 PISD study predicted that 1,714
new students would enroll in district schools
for the 2009-2010 academic year. A similar
assessment in 2008 adjusted the forecast to
1,120 new students, and a review in February
projected an increase of fewer than 600
students.
Based on the new projection, PISD expects
20,850 students to enroll this fall.
“We have to focus on what the recent history
has been, since student [enrollments]
really aren’t growing at the same rate they
were two to three years ago,” said Kenneth
Adix, executive director of business services
at PISD, in a presentation to the school
board June 15.
The district receives state funds each
month based on current data, and Adix said
the adjusted student counts have affected
the budget gradually. The 2009-2010 budget
must be completed by Aug. 31, and a public
hearing will be held Aug. 20.
‘Deal with the fallout’
The PISD Board of Trustees raised questions
in June about whether the state’s target
revenue system, which grants PISD $4,887
per student based on a weighted average,
puts Pflugerville at a disadvantage in comparison
to nearby districts. Leander ISD receives
$5,565 per weighted student in state
funds, and Round Rock ISD gets $5,604 per
student.
In 2006 the state legislature created a system
that set target revenues for each district
based on “snapshots” of their 2005-2006
finances, said Leo Lopez, a manager in the
state funding division of the Texas Education
Agency. District revenue varies according
to factors such as tax rates and property
values in each area.
Round Rock ISD, for example, contains
more commercial development and higher
taxable value than PISD, which likely
played a role in RRISD having more revenue
per student in 2005, Lopez said. Even
if the financial gap between the districts has
shrunk since then, targets are still tied to
that year’s snapshot.
“Everyone [other school districts] around
us gets more, and when you multiply by
20,000 students, that’s a lot of net revenue
that would be very helpful for us in our
budgeting,” PISD board member Vernagene
Mott said.
Revenue is strained even further when
student counts do not meet projections,
she said.
School board members worked with state
lawmakers this year in hopes of updating
the system to reflect financial needs that
have emerged since targets were first set.
Legislators made minor adjustments to in-
“The gap between the highestperforming
students and the
lowest-performing students is
closing in Pflugerville.”
— Keith McBurnett
Pflugerville ISD Chief Academic Officer
crease teacher pay, but did not overhaul target
revenues. Districts will operate on the
system for at least two more years.
PISD Board of Trustees Vice President
Elva Gladney said at the June 15 meeting
that enrollment growth by itself would not
bring in sufficient funding for the district
unless its target revenue was also increased.
She added that the Senate Finance Committee
had assured the district it would increase
its target to $5,000 per student, but
no such change was made.
“That would have helped us,” she said. “It
would have made a difference. Not living up
to that promise was hurtful.”
Dupre said much of the new money PISD
received from the legislature this year was
earmarked for teacher salary increases,
and if additional funding had been provided
without restriction, the district would
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