Stafford joint body adopts balanced 2025–26 SMSD budget, keeps tax rate and OKs bond defeasance plan

Stafford Municipal School District trustees and the Stafford City Council on Aug. 25 approved a balanced 2025–26 school budget, adopted the same property tax rate as the previous year and authorized a plan to defease (prepay) portions of the district's outstanding debt using excess debt-service fund balances.

The actions were taken during a joint meeting attended by school trustees, city council members, the superintendent and the district's finance team. The School Board and City Council voted unanimously on the major items: the school budget and related tax-rate ordinances passed on roll-call votes, and the board approved the district's plan to defease bonds the body described as a routine debt-management step.

Superintendent Robert Bostick, presenting the budget to the joint body, said the district is proposing a balanced general fund where revenues and expenditures match and stressed compensation increases included in the plan. "Balanced budget. This year, we have a balanced budget," Bostick said. He and board members emphasized that new state legislation provided additional funding this year for teacher raises and other compensation steps included in the budget.

Why it matters: The budget keeps classroom programs intact while preserving ongoing safety and nutrition services and uses one-time debt-service fund balance to reduce future interest costs through defeasance. Trustees and council members repeatedly described aging campus infrastructure ' including HVAC, roofing and buses ' as unresolved capital needs that likely will require a future bond election.

Most important facts - The board adopted a general fund budget with total revenues and expenditures presented as $44,248,041 (balanced budget figure stated in the CFO presentation). The board moved to approve that budget and the motion carried 7-0 on the school board vote. The City Council later recorded its unanimous concurrence in the joint actions. - The joint body approved a total tax rate that remains the same as the prior year: 1.002121 per $100 valuation, broken out as 0.7869 for maintenance and operations (M&O) and 0.215221 for interest and sinking (I&S or debt service). The joint vote was unanimous across the two governing bodies (14-0 combined). - The board and council approved a resolution to use excess I&S (debt-service) fund balance to defease/retire portions of outstanding bonds on a timetable presented by the district. The district's financial advisor, Clarence Greer (RBC Capital Markets), described cash defeasance as an "early retirement of debt" and said the planned defeasance will reduce future interest costs.

Key details from presentations - Enrollment and funding: The district reported 3,429 students enrolled as of Aug. 22; the administration used a refined average daily attendance (ADA) estimate that adjusts for pre-K weighting and attendance in the state funding formula and projected an ADA increase of about 50 pupils for budgeting purposes. - Compensation: Trustees and the superintendent highlighted teacher and staff raises included in the budget, noting state legislative increases that enabled an extra $4,000 for teachers with 3'4 years of experience and an extra $8,000 for teachers with more than five years of experience, plus market adjustments and raises for non-teaching staff. - Debt and defeasance: The district reported outstanding debt of roughly $86,225,000 as presented in the CFO's materials. The administration described a defeasance plan (timed for early 2026 in presentations) that the negotiators said would be funded from excess I&S balances and would reduce interest expense (a stated savings figure of approximately $181,539 was shown for the example defeasance schedule presented).

Public comment and discussion - One public commenter, Joe Longoria, urged elected officials to do more outreach to win support for a future bond election and warned that deteriorating facilities threaten enrollment and the broader community. "If this school district fails, that's the city will fail too because we are 1," Longoria said during the public-comment period. - Trustees and council members repeatedly said they expect to pursue a public education campaign and a future bond to address capital needs, while noting legal and funding constraints from the state funding model (recapture/Robin Hood) that limit local discretion over revenues.

Votes at a glance - Joint resolution to defease and redeem certain outstanding obligations of Stafford MSD: Board motion (Vice President Jacqueline Jean Baptiste), second (Secretary Patricia Sosa Montelongo); Board vote 7-0 in favor; City council recorded concurrence (unanimous). (Provenance: board discussion began at agenda item 4.) - Approval of Stafford MSD 2025'26 budget and related actions: Board motion by Vice President Batiste, second by Trustee Joyce Wilkins; Board vote 7-0 in favor. (Provenance: motion and board roll call at agenda item 12.) - Adoption of tax rate for tax year 2025: Total tax rate 1.002121 per $100 valuation (M&O 0.7869; I&S 0.215221). School board and city council roll-call votes recorded unanimous approval on both sides; joint body recorded 14-0. (Provenance: CFO presentation and subsequent roll-call votes.) - Temporary workspace easement with Kinder Morgan (consent item): Board approved delegation to the superintendent to negotiate and execute terms; trustees voted 7-0 to approve the consent motion. The district said the company would fence the work area and coordinate to minimize impacts; the work period presented began Sept. 2 with an anticipated completion window discussed through mid-December.

What remains uncertain or scheduled next - Capital funding: Trustees said the district needs a bond election to address long-term, district-wide capital failures (roofs, HVAC, buses, athletic fields and fine-arts facilities) but no bond is scheduled at this meeting; trustees said they will begin public education and planning. - Defeasance details and timing: The board approved the intent and the use of I&S funds for defeasance; the exact defeasance transactions and final savings will be completed by financial staff and the district's advisors and reported back as required.

Ending Trustees and council members closed the meeting by praising staff and the superintendent for the budget work and by reiterating that long-term capital needs remain a priority. The board recorded a final unanimous vote on the budget and tax rate, while the district's finance team said the defeasance step is part of ongoing debt-management work.