Waxahachie ISD outlines 2025–26 budget priorities, warns SHARS revenue is shrinking

Brian Calden, the district’s finance presenter, told the Waxahachie ISD Board of Trustees at a March budget workshop that the district’s general fund has rebounded to roughly a 90-day fund balance and that leaders want to preserve that reserve while preparing for continued enrollment growth.

Calden said, “Fund balance is the fund that gives us latitude to be able to go out and do things that we otherwise weren't prepared to do,” and described the fund as the source the district prefers to use for one-time capital items rather than recurring personnel costs.

Board members were shown revenue and expenditure projections and a three-part budget workshop schedule that will continue in June and conclude with adoption in August. Calden said the district expects about 300 additional average daily attendance (ADA) next year and modeled a conservative enrollment increase of 300 students for budgeting rather than a demographer’s higher estimate of roughly 400.

Why it matters

Calden framed several trade-offs that will shape the 2025–26 budget: protecting fund balance for new campus openings, funding a districtwide staff salary increase, and a set of secondary priorities such as bus purchases, maintaining one-to-one student devices and targeted facility work. He said leaders are seeking board feedback on tiered priorities before firming the proposed…