Belton ISD staff outline 2025–26 budget shortfall, recommend raises tied to state allotments

Belton Independent School District staff presented a budget and compensation update at a July 21 board workshop, telling trustees the district faces multiple funding changes that leave it close to policy minimums for fund balance and require trade-offs ahead of the August budget adoption.

Melissa Lafferty, district staff, said the district’s budget models use an average daily attendance (ADA) of 12,633 — a 93% attendance rate — and a preliminary 6% increase in property values. “So, for average daily attendance, we’re gonna use 12,633, which is 93% attendance rate,” Lafferty said. She told the board certified property values were expected within days and that the district’s compressed tax rate was currently about 75.52 cents per $100 of valuation.

The models reflect state and federal changes, staff said. Todd Schiller, district staff, said the district is absorbing an estimated $528,000 loss tied to reductions in Title II, III and IV federal grants and cited a separate roughly $1.2 million reduction tied to SHARS and other federal changes, which district speakers described together as “right at $2,000,000” in decreased federal funding the district must address. “The run that we have kind of been…