Clear Creek ISD approves $1.7 million budget amendment for special education and adopts FY25–26 budget goals

The Clear Creek Independent School District Board of Trustees on March 31 unanimously approved a $1,700,000 budget amendment to cover expected overages in federal IDEA‑B special education expenditures and adopted the district's FY2025–26 budget goals, assumptions and priorities.

The amendment, presented by Ms. Benzai, would move certain salaries from IDEA‑B funds into the general fund to free IDEA‑B money to pay contracted speech‑therapy services and nonpublic day school tuition that are projected to exceed the current IDEA‑B budget. Ms. Benzai told trustees the $1.7 million estimate is intended to cover the rest of the current fiscal year so the district can continue contracted services and tuition payments.

Board members discussed the drivers of the increased special education costs: district enrollment growth, a multi‑year rise in special education identifications, and recruitment pressures for certain specialists such as speech‑language pathologists. Trustees and staff cited a 9% increase in special education over the past three years and said speech services are a leading qualifying category. Dr. Staley and other staff noted a national shortage of speech pathologists and that pandemic‑era interruptions in early social interaction likely increased early‑grade needs.

Trustees asked whether the district can reduce reliance on contracted services by hiring employees directly. Ms. Benzai said recruiting and paying employees could reduce long‑term contract costs if the district succeeds in recruiting specialists; she also said some cost savings could come from converting contract work to district staff but that the shortage makes that difficult. Trustee Brown and others urged the district to track recruitment progress closely in the coming budget cycle so the FY25–26 budget reflects whether internal hires reduce contracted costs.

After discussion Trustee Cunningham moved to adopt the superintendent's recommendation to approve budget amendment No. 1; the motion passed unanimously.

On the FY25–26 budget goals, trustees adopted a document that maintains priorities including competitive salaries, staffing and enrollment initiatives, and use of a realistic average daily attendance assumption (the document assumes a projected enrollment loss of at least 317 students for FY25–26). Trustees debated adding an explicit priority to recruit employees to replace contracted services; an amendment to insert a separate, explicit bullet was proposed and discussed but ultimately the board reverted to the original presented priorities and approved the goals as presented. The motion to adopt the FY25–26 goals, assumptions and priorities passed.