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Lewisville ISD projects FY25 shortfall after higher T2 values; appeals filed with appraisal district software error noted
Summary
Lewisville ISD finance staff warned trustees that preliminary T2 property values filed with the comptroller were higher than projected, lowering state aid and creating a fiscal-year 2025 shortfall; the district has filed an appeal with the appraisal district over a software-related calculation and is modeling reduction scenarios.
Lewisville ISD finance staff told trustees that preliminary T2 property values submitted to the Texas Comptroller came in materially higher than the district projected, reducing state aid and producing a projected fiscal-year 2025 shortfall unless offset by legislative changes or additional savings.
The finance director said the district adopted its FY25 budget using a T2 projection based on recent historical ratios (about 91.4% of certified values). “Our preliminary T2 value … come in about 93.8%,” the presenter said, explaining the higher value reduces state funding because the state funding formula treats the preliminary T2 value as a baseline for local share and recapture calculations.
Staff said the appraisal district’s vendor software miscalculated value losses from tax ceilings used for certain homestead exemptions in multiple districts statewide; the district has filed an appeal with the appraisal district and is awaiting results, which may not be known until August. The presenter said last year LISD received $6.5 million in temporary state aid for freeze adjustments; that amount is not available this year because of higher T2 values.
Finance projections described a range of scenarios depending on property-value growth assumptions and possible legislative action (House Bill 2 scenarios were modeled). With a projected ADA decline and current preliminary T2 values, staff estimated a prospective deficit in the range of several million dollars for FY25; administration and an ad hoc board budget committee recommended about $11.4 million in reductions and actions to narrow the gap while preserving classroom positions where possible.
The committee’s recommended short-term measures include adjusting high‑school staffing ranges upward within the staffing analyzer, modest changes to fifth-grade class-size targets (from 24.5:1 to 25:1), changes to library aide staffing and some district-level social worker/behavior-intervention allocations, reducing parent excuse notes from 10 to 5, and increasing virtual-learning fees for FY26 summer courses. The board discussion emphasized minimizing layoffs and maximizing attrition-based adjustments and internal reassignments.
Administration said it will continue to monitor the appraisal-district appeal, final T2 values, attendance (ADA), legislative outcomes and monthly revenue updates and will return to the board with refined forecasts and recommended compensation or reductions as those variables firms up.
