The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees held a public hearing to review the proposed 2025–26 budget and proposed tax rate, during which Chief Financial Officer Natalie Bindley detailed revenue assumptions, compensation changes under House Bill 2 and a $4,000,000 maintenance-tax-note expenditure that creates a temporary deficit on paper.

“It's gonna look like we're adopting a deficit budget, which we are adopting a deficit budget, but that comes down to a timing issue on the sale of the maintenance tax notes,” Bindley said, explaining that the district budgeted planned facility work now while note proceeds will be received later.

The presentation and subsequent public comments matter because the district’s funding and staff compensation hinge on refined average daily attendance (ADA), changes created by state legislation and the timing of borrowing for planned facility work. Trustees and several public commenters sought clearer presentation of the timing issues, details on transportation cuts, and faster communication of new pay letters to staff.

Bindley said the district used a refined ADA of 3,097 for 2025–26 revenue estimates and budgeted state allotments created or adjusted by House Bill 2. She described two state-level changes the presentation relied on: an increase in the basic allotment and a new allotment called the ABC (allotment for basic cost), which she said produces roughly $348,000 for the district at the current enrollment figures. The district also budgeted support-staff retention funding of $45 per ADA; at the refined ADA used in the budget, that allotment is about $139,000.

Under House Bill 2 assumptions included in the draft budget, classroom pay adjustments were modeled as $4,000 increases for teachers with roughly three to four years’ experience and $8,000 for teachers with five or more years, with strings attached to how positions are coded. Bindley said the district projected roughly $1.5 million in additional state revenue tied to those changes but noted the legislature did not fund benefits tied to the wage increases; she said the district estimates an additional cost of about $100 in benefits for each $1,000 of salary increase.

The board-approved compensation plan already earmarked portions of state allotments for particular employee groups. Bindley said approximately $116,000 of the support-staff allotment is being applied to auxiliary and paraprofessional pay, certified-teacher increases total about $22,500 in the district-side calculation, and bus drivers and monitors account for roughly $23,000; combined with other groups and benefits, she said the cost of those changes totals about $186,000 for the general fund. She also noted the child-nutrition (food-service) fund is treated separately; that fund’s budget anticipates about $3.4 million in revenue and $3.5 million in expenditures.

On the revenue and fund-balance side, Bindley presented multi-year fund-balance history and said the district has rarely met the Texas Education Agency’s recommendation of maintaining roughly three months of operating expenses in fund balance. The CFO projected an estimated ending general-fund balance of $9.5 million on Aug. 31, 2025, and a target of around $7.0 million by Aug. 31, 2026. She explained the apparent 2025–26 deficit is driven by timing on the maintenance tax notes and the planned $4 million expenditure for a contract with Snyder for facility improvements approved earlier this summer; without that timing difference, the district would show a projected surplus of about $1.2 million.

Transportation and staffing changes drew detailed public questioning. The presentation showed a roughly $447,000 reduction in public-transportation budgeted expenditures. Bindley and board members explained that the district reduced guaranteed hours for bus drivers from six to five hours per day while increasing drivers’ hourly rates (example figures in the presentation: driver pay rose to about $20.15 per hour; monitors increased to roughly $14.25). Board members and public commenters pressed for assurance that the cuts would not reduce routes or prevent students from reaching campus. Administrators said routes had not been eliminated and that some Friday transportation to outside providers (for example ACE or Boys & Girls Club) would not be district-provided; parents currently handle drop-off on those days except for a dedicated route to Paysville that the district will operate.

Trustees and several public commenters also raised staffing and recruitment concerns. Board members asked for a report on outreach to retired teachers and how many responded; the superintendent and staff agreed to provide a written update. Trustees urged better, earlier communication of pay letters to staff; administrators said pay letters traditionally go out in early September and discussed the aim to approve future compensation plans earlier in the spring to allow staff to plan.

The board did not change the tax rate at the hearing. Bindley said all bonds were paid off as of Aug. 1 and the district will not levy a debt-service tax for the current year; she noted some delinquent-tax revenue was still budgeted in a nominal amount in the debt-service line for convenience.

Public commenters who had served on the budget committee asked the board to present the facility-timing and maintenance-note information more clearly to avoid public confusion that the district had elected a deficit rather than faced a timing difference tied to borrowed funds. At least one budget-committee member suggested a different slide or line-item presentation that separates “operational” surplus from planned capital expenditures funded by tax notes.

Trustees asked staff to monitor transportation and enrollment trends during the year, to report back on numbers of retired teachers contacted and their responses, and to bring facility appraisal results and a facilities plan for further board consideration once the appraisal is available.

The public hearing concluded with a motion to adjourn. Trustee Quinones moved to adjourn the public hearing; Trustee Rizzo seconded. The board approved the motion by voice vote.

The board requested follow-up reports on retired-teacher recruitment, a staffing update (including a specific check on an algebra-2 vacancy that had been addressed), the facilities appraisal and options for consolidating central-office programs into Flores or other sites, and clearer public-facing presentation of the timing difference between maintenance tax-note expenditures and receipt of note proceeds.