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Gadsden ISD finance chief warns of $14.3 million budget shortfall, outlines savings plan

Gadsden Independent Schools Board of Education · December 12, 2025
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Summary

Chief finance presenter Ludin Martinez told the board the district’s preliminary operating budget shows $180.8M in revenues versus $195.1M in expenditures, producing a $14.3M budgeted deficit. She outlined reliance on SEG funding, projected enrollment losses, drawdown of reserves, and measures such as attrition, hiring freezes and a retirement incentive.

Ludin Martinez, the district finance presenter, told the Gadsden Independent School District board that the district’s preliminary operating budget shows total revenues of $180,800,000 against estimated expenditures of $195,100,000, producing a budgeted deficit of $14,300,000.

“The top of the page…our total revenues are a $180,800,000,” Martinez said in the presentation. She noted the State Equalization Guarantee (referred to in the presentation as SEG/SCG) makes up the vast majority of district revenue and that personnel costs account for roughly 91% of those revenues.

Martinez warned enrollment declines were a principal driver of the shortfall. She cited the district’s fortieth‑day membership number (~10,800) and said that lower membership translates to roughly a $6 million reduction in SEG funding. Martinez said the district is working from a preliminary unit value estimate and will learn a final unit value from the state in February 2026.

To bridge projected gaps, the administration described several measures already under way or planned: using cash reserves in the short term; tightening position controls and filling vacancies through attrition rather than new hires; reassigning existing staff where feasible; limiting nonessential overtime; and reducing non‑personnel spending such as travel and conference attendance. Martinez also listed specific cash uses already committed this fiscal year, including $3,700,000 for instructional materials and $6,500,000 for a sewage connection project serving Gadsden facilities.

Board members asked how long reserves could sustain operations; Martinez declined to give a precise timetable but said the district’s reserves could carry it “probably…for at least 2 years,” depending on spending and further enrollment changes. She added that budget numbers are estimates subject to refinement over the year.

The board chair and members pressed administration to return with updated figures after final state unit‑value determinations and stressed the need for continued monitoring of special‑education and bilingual staffing given their budget and programmatic importance. The board did not adopt new budget policy at the meeting; administration said it will bring budget items and necessary adjustments back as the fiscal planning cycle continues.