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Lamar CISD previews 2026–27 budget; finance committee recommends 3% staff raise
Summary
Lamar CISD officials presented a preliminary 2026–27 budget framework showing a projected year‑end fund balance increase and the finance committee’s recommendation for a 3% districtwide raise (teacher scale increase of about $2,200) as trustees reviewed enrollment, property-growth assumptions and next steps for public hearings.
The Lamar Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees on April 21 heard a finance briefing that laid out preliminary assumptions for the 2026–27 budget and a finance‑committee recommendation to offer a 3% districtwide raise.
CFO Gray Buchanan told trustees the district’s 2025–26 year‑end estimate projects total revenues of about $534.6 million (roughly $1.2 million below budget) and expenditure savings of about $12 million across salaries and campus/department budgets. “When you take the revenue minus those expenditure savings…we’re anticipating to increase our fund balance at the end of year by $10.8 million,” Buchanan said.
The Finance Committee recommended planning the 2026–27 budget using a 3% property‑value growth assumption and the low enrollment projection from the district demographer. The committee presented three raise scenarios — 2%, 3% and 4% — and recommended the 3% option, which was shown in the materials as roughly a $2,200 increase on the teacher pay scale and an $11.5 million total cost to give a 3% raise to all teachers.
Trustees pressed for clarifications about whether the district faces a deficit (the CFO said the district does not), how the projected fund balance aligns with state guidance, and how staffing changes will follow enrollment shifts. Buchanan and the superintendent emphasized personnel is the largest portion of the budget (presented as about 83% of expenditures) and described the district’s approach of reallocating staff to campuses with need rather than mass layoffs when enrollment shifts occur.
On timing, the district outlined next steps: at the May 19 board meeting staff will set a date and time for the required public meeting on the budget and proposed tax rate; a public hearing on general fund, debt service and child nutrition budgets is scheduled for the June meeting; and the district plans to adopt budgets and any compensation plan in June with final tax‑rate adoption in August after certified values are available.
No action was taken on the informational presentation. Board members signaled support for the process and the committee’s recommendation; the budget schedule and the raise recommendation will move through the board’s public hearings and action items in the coming months.
