Northwest ISD board approves 2025–26 staffing matrices after budget workshop

The Northwest Independent School District Board of Trustees on Friday approved the administration’s recommended 2025–26 staffing matrices following a budget workshop in which district leaders described staffing reallocations, potential reductions and program-model changes intended to address a structural budget shortfall.

At the workshop, Jonathan Kastusic, a district staff member who led the presentation, told trustees the district faces a structural deficit and a target reduction plan that includes about $16 million in reductions tied to staffing ratios, efficiencies and nonpayroll savings. "We want to avoid layoffs," Kastusic said, adding that the administration would pursue reallocation where possible but that some positions would be reduced or combined.

The administration laid out a multi-part plan that it said would preserve core programs while changing service models. Proposals discussed included raising some elementary and secondary staffing ratios (for example, shifting some elementary classes from 22:1 to 24:1 in certain grades and moving secondary averages toward 1:80 per teacher-period), centralizing or sharing specialist and coordinator positions across campuses, and recovering master‑schedule sections from athletics and fine arts to redeploy to core instruction.…