Boerne ISD staff outline budget outlook, property-value uncertainty and debt strategy ahead of June adoption

Boerne ISD finance staff presented updated budget modeling and warned trustees that uncertainty in property valuations and state calculations will shape the district's 2025-26 budget options.

Mister Scott told trustees that the district originally adopted a 2024-25 general fund budget with a multi-million dollar deficit and has since passed amendments that changed the picture; he emphasized that state funding calculations depend on current-year property values reported by appraisal districts and later adjusted by the Texas Comptroller and that districts typically do not know final certified values until July. Scott said the comptroller's recent publication of frozen-value changes produced about $2.2 million of additional funding for the district.

For planning, staff used a reduced-enrollment model with an anticipated average daily attendance (ADA) of about 10,962 and assumed a 3.5% change in property values for modeling. The finance presentation included conservative assumptions on investment income to avoid relying on one-time earnings for recurring costs and showed scenarios that vary with legislative outcomes. Scott said SHARS revenue is becoming "a very undependable source of revenue" and that TRS and health insurance costs remain uncertain.

Trustees and staff discussed legislative proposals being tracked at the Capitol, including a governor-proposed voucher initiative, property-tax relief measures, teacher pay proposals and expanded school-safety funding; staff said those proposals could change the district's revenue outlook but none were final. On debt service, staff described a planned defeasement strategy for part of the 2016 bond to reduce interest costs and to capture available state aid where scheduled principal payments qualify. Staff scheduled three more budget workshops (staffing/compensation, program initiatives and final models) before a June budget adoption.