Bastrop ISD CFO lays out budget scenarios, warns of unknowns from vouchers and special education funding

Mark Mike White, Bastrop ISD’s chief financial officer, told trustees at a budget workshop that the district is modeling next year’s revenue assuming no student growth and preparing two baseline compensation scenarios while flagging several major uncertainties affecting the budget.

White said administrators began the budget process in December and used a conservative “no growth” enrollment assumption after recent demographic work. “This wasn’t a wishlist year,” White said, describing the approach as focused on legal requirements and essential needs rather than new initiatives.

Under the base scenarios White presented, a 1% of-midpoint pay increase was the lower-cost option; an alternate 2% scenario would cost roughly an additional $1.1 million. He also offered a “menu” of possible one-time uses of fund balance: adding three school safety officers (payroll plus equipment), a $125,000 step to address mid-career teacher pay compression, and $100,000 to raise starting pay for the lowest-paid paraprofessionals.

The district’s fund balance stood at about 4.2 months (roughly $50…