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. Kevin Lacell (staff) and others presented options the district said could return sections to principals’ schedules and save FTEs via attrition or reallocation.

Administrators showed district totals they said trustees should weigh: a current operating budget the presentation listed as $337,000,000, a payroll figure described verbally as "2.71" (presenters described payroll as about 81% of the operating budget in the slides), an estimated $16 million target reduction, and a larger structural deficit the presentation described at roughly $60 million when comparing current service models to available revenue. The presentation also noted monthly payroll runs "just right at or just over $20,000,000." Those figures were presented by district staff as context for recommended staffing-matrix changes and other savings measures.

Panelists described several categories of changes: "big rocks" that will require structural shifts (classroom ratios, staffing matrix, program changes), efficiencies that return master‑schedule sections to principals, and nonpayroll reductions (contracts, supplies, travel) to fill remaining gaps. Athletics proposals included reducing about 10 athletic sections per high school and redeploying those sections; fine‑arts changes targeted consolidation and sharing of half‑time positions across campuses. The district said many changes would rely on attrition and reallocation rather than immediate mass layoffs, but acknowledged parents and staff will require substantial communication and time to adjust.

Trustee Schuder moved to approve the 2025–26 staffing matrices as recommended by administration; Trustee Murphy seconded the motion. The board president called for a vote and stated the motion carried (outcome: approved). The recorded motion text in the meeting was: "I move to approve the 2025, 2026 staffing matrices as recommended by the administration." The transcript did not include a roll-call tally of named votes in the record provided.

Administrators said the district will continue monthly updates to the board as state revenue estimates, property-tax results and legislative action become clearer. Presenters repeatedly cautioned that some savings depend on enrollment and demographer projections, attrition rates and possible legislative changes to school finance. They also listed several areas the district is still pursuing for savings or revenue: technology and outsourcing contracts, transportation and leasing strategies, grants and CTE revenue-weighting opportunities, and tighter controls on copy‑room printing and supply budgets.

The board also discussed process questions: how and when staff and principals will be briefed, the timeline for communicating changes to employees, and the role of attrition versus reductions in force. Speakers emphasized a communication sequence the administration said it planned to follow: notify the board, then principals, then staff and families. Trustees asked for additional detail on projected impacts to specific programs and campuses before finalizing implementation steps.

The administration provided examples and asked trustees to review a supplemental matrix of specific position groups and campus-level impacts; many line items were presented as model changes or potential subtractions (some entries did not show dollar amounts because they represent sections returned to master schedules or shifts in how salaries are funded). District staff said an additional roughly $3 million in nonpayroll reductions remain to be identified to reach the full target and that the suggested structural moves are intended to create a sustainable budget model if state revenue does not increase.

The board moved into closed session after approving the staffing matrices. District leaders said they will return to the board with more detailed implementation plans and communications for employees and families.