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Keller ISD staff outline 2025–26 budget assumptions, project roughly $9.4 million shortfall
Summary
District finance staff presented budget assumptions for 2025–26 including a projected enrollment decline of 450 students, 94% average daily attendance, no increase to the state basic allotment and an estimated $9.4 million funding gap, while noting $45 million in reductions over the past two years.
District finance staff presented a preliminary framework for the 2025–26 Keller ISD budget during the Jan. 30 board meeting, warning trustees that a roughly $9.4 million shortfall is the starting point for discussions and identifying a set of assumptions the district plans to use.
Key points from the presentation - Projected shortfall: staff opened the discussion with a working figure of $9,400,000 that must be addressed in the 2025–26 budget unless state funding or other assumptions change. - Assumptions used for planning: a balanced-budget target, enrollment decline of 450 students, average daily attendance (ADA) of 94%, and no increase in the state basic allotment (the referenced base figure was stated as $61.60 per student in the presentation). - Prior reductions: the district reported it has reduced its operating budget by about $45 million over the past two fiscal years (roughly $17 million in one year and $27 million in another) and has returned to a balanced trajectory for the current year based on those efficiencies. - Cost pressures: staff listed inflation-driven increases in utilities, transportation (contract escalator of 4.5% noted), property insurance pressure, rising professional services (including a potential TAD software/facility cost), HVAC and facility repairs, and anticipated reductions in special education reimbursement (referred to as CHARRS impacts) as contributors to the gap.
Context: state funding and mandates Presenters and trustees repeatedly framed the district’s deficit as part of a broader state-level funding problem: they pointed to a complex Texas school-funding formula, several years without a meaningful increase in the foundational per-pupil allocation (noted in the presentation as unchanged since 2019), and a growing number of state-mandated programs that districts must pay for with little or no state reimbursement.
What trustees asked Board members questioned the composition of the $27 million in efficiencies and how much of the gap could be closed via attrition, department reductions, program consolidations, or property sales. Staff said some measures — including review of service contracts and assessment of potentially saleable district land — are under way but cautioned sales cannot be counted on in the near term.
Ending District staff emphasized the preliminary nature of the figures and said the numbers will be refined as tax values and state legislative activity become clearer. Staff said they would return with further specificity during the spring budget process.
(Quotes in this story come from district finance staff who presented the projections and were identified in the transcript as district finance staff.)
