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Ysleta ISD warns of rising budget pressure as enrollment decline could cost about $15 million
Summary
Ysleta Independent School District CFO Limley Camber told trustees the district projects a loss of about 1,500 students next year, which would reduce state-aid revenue by roughly $15 million; trustees debated whether to plan for an even larger drop and discussed limited options such as property sales and staffing trade-offs.
Limley Camber, the district's chief finance and operations officer, told the Ysleta Independent School District Board of Trustees on March 18 that state aid makes up the bulk of the district's general-fund revenue and that continued enrollment declines are the primary fiscal driver.
"State aid represents about $338,000,000 or 85% of our annual operating budget," Camber said during a presentation on the 2026'27 budget outlook. "If we lose 1,500 students, that's about $15,000,000 in revenue." She also said local property taxes account for roughly $47,200,000, or about 12% of the general fund, and that the district has sold several properties and has additional sites listed for potential revenue.
The update explained a change in how the Texas Education Agency (TEA) will reconcile funding. Camber said TEA has begun moving to a real-time system that tracks enrollment monthly rather than waiting until settlement, meaning the district could see funding adjustments sooner than in past years.
Trustees pressed administration on both the pace of enrollment loss and what contingency planning is appropriate. Trustee Hernandez argued the board should consider a larger loss in its planning assumptions: "I'm thinking it would be in our strategic interest to assume a greater loss than 1,500, maybe a loss of 1,800," he said, urging a conservative approach so the district would not later be forced to close budget gaps.
Administration said the 1,500 figure is a conservative projection based on recent trends and cautioned that overstating losses also carries risks. Superintendent De La Torre noted that aggressive downward adjustments could require staffing reductions that are difficult to reverse: "If we go too hard, it'll create an excess of teachers, and we have to have the capacity to avoid laying off teachers by making sure that what we project creates the vacancies that we can accommodate," he said.
Camber said other revenue sources include federal reimbursements and limited proceeds from property sales; she said several properties have been sold and "there are 7 that remain for sale," though offers received so far have been below market and none have been recommended for acceptance.
What happens next: Trustees asked staff to consider the range of scenarios before the district returns with a formal budget recommendation in August, after preliminary property values are released. Camber said she expects to present a recommended tax rate in August and indicated it would likely be slightly below the district's current compressed rate, subject to final property values and state compression changes.
Vote and procedural note: The board later approved the meeting's consent agenda, which included the monthly financial report for January 2026, by a 7'0to200 vote.
