Schertz‑Cibolo‑Universal City ISD reviews budget shortfall, teacher pay rules and a proposed voter tax election

Schertz‑Cibolo‑Universal City Independent School District held a budget workshop in which district leaders outlined a multi‑million dollar projected deficit, explained how new state teacher pay rules will affect local compensation, and described a proposed voter‑approval tax rate election (VATRE) to raise up to 12 pennies for capital and operations.

Superintendent Maloney told the board the district is facing a structural shortfall even after known revenue and planned staffing assumptions. ‘‘If we were to just roll over the known items going from the current year to the next year, we would have a deficit of about 6,400,000,’’ said Brian Mosley, a district finance staff member who walked the board through the budget forecast. Mosley and other staff added that, after building in deferred maintenance items and other operating costs the district has postponed, the deficit in staff presentations rose toward $13,700,000 before accounting for new legislation and compensation options.

Why it matters: the state’s school finance changes provide targeted increases for classroom teachers but leave local districts responsible for other costs the district says are required to operate safely and maintain programs. That gap is driving discussion of both how to distribute the mandated teacher raises locally and whether to seek voter approval to restore local revenue.

What the state bills do and how the district interpreted them District staff summarized the immediate effect of the recent school funding bills. Mosley said the legislation that funds the mandated teacher raises will add roughly $8.8 million in new state money to the district’s formula, including a safety allotment increase of about $433,000 and other targeted allotments. At the same time, other formula changes and local taxable value declines…