With start of new school year, districts look ahead at funding

DALLAS (1080 KRLD)- Most school districts across Texas have now returned to class, and administrators are looking forward. More districts are dealing with budget shortfalls as federal pandemic relief runs out, and their costs increase.

In 2019, the Texas legislature passed an $11.6 billion school funding measure. The bill included a 20% increase in per-student funding, money for teacher raises and full day pre-kindergarten.

"This one law does more to advance education in Texas than any law I have seen in my adult life-time in the State of Texas," Governor Greg Abbott said when he signed the bill.

But since then, the amount of funding per student has not increased. In Dallas ISD, Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde says the district's costs have surged twelve to 20% since then.

"When you backward map 19 or 20 percent inflation, truthfully, that's about an $1,100 increase to the basic allotment," she said while welcoming kids to Pershing Elementary on their first day of class this week.

This spring, Dallas ISD passed a $1.9 billion budget that cut some administrative jobs. The district hoped to avoid layoffs by eliminating positions left open by retirements or resignations.

Dallas ISD did not plan to eliminate classroom positions and included a raise for teachers. Elizalde says the district has had an "amazing" drop in turnover among teachers. She says Dallas ISD opened the year with 70 open jobs, the fewest since the district started keeping track.

"That means we've had far fewer new teachers, which is good for kids," she says. "What that says is we have stability. We have consistency, and the learning curve is much smaller when that happens."

Dallas ISD patched a shortfall in this year's budget with reserves. The biggest districts in North Texas, including Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington, all reported budget deficits this school year.

Districts across Texas have pushed lawmakers to increase funding, and many administrators hope the legislature will provide more for public schools when the next session starts in January 2025.

During the 2023 session, the Texas Senate passed an education funding plan that would have included vouchers. The Texas House of Representatives approved an amendment stripping vouchers from the bill, but the failure of the measure also meant the funding increase failed.

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