TISD’s initial ‘21-‘22 budget includes a $1 million deficit
Officials anticipate changes, relief funds before approval
The Texarkana Independent School District board of trustees reviewed and considered the first reading of the 2021-2022 fiscal year budget in a regular meeting on Tuesday.
Projections feature a $1 million deficit on a $73.3 million budget with expenditures at $74.3 million. Changes are anticipated as the budget process continues, as the Texas Legislative session does not end until May 31.
The second reading of the budget will be May 25, with the third reading and final approval during the June 29 Board meeting.
Chief Financial Officer Anita Clay said the district still has no word on ESSER II and ESSER III relief funding for elementary and secondary schools from the Texas Education Agency, which could potentially provide additional money to aid in making up for learning loss over the past year. The board inquired as to what this delay may be caused by.
“What I’m hearing is that it relates to maintenance of effort requirements from the federal government for education spending,” Superintendent Dr. Doug Brubaker said. “There’s some cuts for higher ed and the way that the language was written in the Bill — there’s a question as to whether that impacts maintenance of effort. So, there’s a lot of back and forth on that.
“The latest I’ve heard is there’s a commissioner’s call on Thursday. So, we’ll see.”
In other news from the meeting, TISD’s total tax rate for 2021-22 will remain at $1.05 for Maintenance and Operations and $0.255 for Interest and Sinking Funds, which is used to repay bonded indebtedness and other debts.
The board approved items as surplus. Items that are no longer useful to the District but still have value and can be sold and were declared as surplus.
The listing includes: 2008 Ford Crown Victoria, 2005 Ford Crown Victoria, Icom Radio Repeaters, Motorola Radio Repeaters, Assorted Brands of Hand Held Two-Way Radios and Mobile Radios with Power Supply.
Items will be sold through an online auction at Rene’ Bates Auctioneers, Inc. Interested persons can bid on items at renebates.com online or visit the TISD website at txkisd.net, which will take the user directly to the district’s page on the online auction site.
Other items approved by the board included Facility Assessment Services and a Truck for Texas High School.
Services from Corgan Associates at a price of $87,500 were agreed upon, with work to begin for existing facility assessments and long-range planning services. The truck is to be used for the Agriculture Department. The approved vendor was Coleman Motors for $56,649.
Lastly, the approval of the TISD Compensation Plan Amendment – Teacher Incentive Allotment was achieved. The newly developed Teacher Incentive Allotment for TISD was reviewed during the March 23 regular session.
Upon approval of the TIA Amendment, the locally-developed teacher designation system will give TISD teachers access to additional compensation based on the local identification of teachers as master ($12,000 - $32,000), exemplary ($6,000 - $18,000) or recognized ($3,000 - $9,000).
The local teacher designation system will consider teacher evaluation and student growth outcomes. Once earned, the teacher designation is applied to an individual’s teaching certificate and is valid for a five-year period. Teacher participation is voluntary, and interested eligible teachers will complete a brief application process to participate.
The next meeting for the TISD board will be Tuesday, May 25.