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Taylor ISD budget workshop flags SHARS audit repayment, Medicaid reimbursement disputes and enrollment pressures
Summary
Finance staff told the board the district will repay a SHARS audit finding over a year, is pursuing disputed Medicaid reimbursement claims for prior years, and is monitoring possible state legislation and enrollment trends that could affect revenues and tax compression.
Taylor ISD finance staff used the board’s Feb. 24 budget workshop to outline timelines and revenue pressures for the 2025–26 budget, including a SHARS repayment plan and disputed Medicaid reimbursement claims.
The presenter reported the Texas Health and Human Services audit of an earlier cost report (referred to in the meeting as 02/2011) requires a repayment of about $13,000, which the district will repay over a one-year payment plan. Staff also said Taylor ISD has filed for a formal review of its 2022 Medicaid (SHARS) claim, which the district said is owed $94,000 under one calculation and, under other review, could be in the range of $350,000; officials said the 2023 cost report is pending review. The presenter summarized those figures by saying that when the amounts owed to the district and those owed by the district are combined across the mentioned years, the net is roughly $10,000 at the time of the workshop.
The workshop also covered statewide budget items that could affect local revenues, including discussion of proposed legislation and ballot measures (teasing SB4 and SJR2 in the presentation) that would change homestead exemptions and affect tax compression; staff said details were not final. Locally, the presenter noted a structural deficit, flat state funding since 2019, lower-than-expected enrollment/ADA this year and inflationary pressures on operating costs. The district emphasized that some state-mandated programs—security, special education and dyslexia services—are underfunded relative to statutory requirements and must be provided despite incomplete funding.
Staff outlined the budget timeline through June and July: campus and department allocations in March; staffing reviews and allocations in April; chief appraiser estimated values expected by April 30; district budget adoption planned for June with certified values received by July 20; tax-rate adoption timing in August/September as required by state deadlines. Presenters said they are basing next year’s average daily attendance conservatively and are actively tracking staffing requests, non-staff expenditures and a 10-year expenditure forecast.
Board members asked questions about whether funding could be based on enrollment rather than ADA, demographer updates to enrollment projections, and the trade-offs of frequent assessment and benchmarking in instruction. No budgetary action items were voted on at the workshop; the session was informational and part of the district’s multi-workshop budget process.
