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ILA tells TEA how it would handle lower enrollment: reserve cushion, personnel cuts and recruitment steps
Summary
Applicants said they project 150 students in Year 1 (50 fifth graders and larger sixth‑grade cohort), budgeted state aid for 137 students and a $79,000 first‑year reserve; they described contingency plans including targeted recruitment, restructuring nonessential personnel and flexible technology spending to respond to enrollment shortfalls.
Innovative Leadership Academy told Texas Education Agency staff it would use a mix of active recruitment and budget adjustments if enrollment or attendance comes in below projections.
Applicants said the Year‑1 plan assumes 150 students, with a small fifth‑grade cohort (50 students) and a larger sixth‑grade cohort. Vanessa Garza, a proposed board member and CPA, said the budget conservatively counts state funding for 137 students and includes about $79,000 in first‑year reserves. Board members and finance leads told TEA that they had run scenarios for lower enrollment and identified personnel and per‑student line items as the primary levers to rebalance the budget.
In TEA’s scenario‑style questioning, staff showed that enrollment of 100 students (rather than 150) would create a roughly $380,000 operating deficit under the current plan; applicants said they would pursue more aggressive recruitment, restructure nonessential back‑office personnel and reassign or delay some technology purchases. Applicants said personnel reductions would prioritize preserving instructional roles and target nonessential administrative positions first. Vanessa Garza indicated there is some built‑in flexibility in the technology line item and that the budget already conservatively assumes fewer students than the nominal 150.
Applicants described real‑time monitoring of recruitment metrics and an intention to adjust outreach if sign‑ups fall short. Board members said they would use frequent check‑ins, community events and direct outreach in apartment complexes and faith‑based organizations to convert interest forms into enrollments. They also said a board‑led $25,000 pledge and ongoing grant pursuit would reduce near‑term financial exposure.
TEA staff also presented an attendance sensitivity scenario: using a lower attendance rate (85% rather than the applicants’ 92% assumption) would reduce revenue and could produce a smaller but still material deficit (applicants estimated about $90,000 under TEA’s illustrative numbers). ILA board members and staff described both community engagement and student incentive systems (advisory check‑ins, attendance rewards) as part of their strategy to sustain attendance.
