Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
BRYAN ISD CFO outlines staffing‑centered budget approach, warns of approximately $5 million deficit
Summary
CFO Normma Friddle told the board that staffing and position control drive budget planning, shared Skyward data (2,523 filled positions, 249 vacancies) and said the district faces a roughly $5M budget deficit driven by stagnant state funding and inflation; staff are pursuing attrition, position consolidation and revenue audits.
Normma Friddle, BRYAN ISD chief financial officer, presented an informational session in the district’s budget development series focusing on staffing and position control. She said salaries and benefits form the largest recurring commitment in the budget and described the use of staffing formulas, demographer projections and a Skyward staff‑planning snapshot showing 2,523 filled positions and 249 vacancies.
Friddle described operational volume: the payroll team processes roughly 2,500–3,000 paychecks biweekly and her HR team processes roughly 3,000 personnel actions a year. She said strong position‑control systems allow the district to model multiple staffing scenarios and generate reliable payroll costs.
The presentation emphasized statewide funding pressures: the district’s basic allotment remains near $6,215 per student at 100% attendance and the district faces a roughly $5 million projected deficit (presenters framed that number as an ongoing budget gap). Friddle and cabinet described transportation underfunding as a clear example of an underfunded mandate: the district receives a transportation allotment of roughly $1.6 million while actual transportation costs run materially higher (staff cited internal budget comparisons around $8.4 million). The presenters said the district will continue using attrition (not layoffs) to align staffing with declining enrollment and listed other cost‑management steps (software consolidation, travel reductions, facility rental adjustments) and revenue maximization efforts (attendance and property‑value audits, CTE coding reviews).
Board members asked about attendance trends and enrollment drivers; staff said enrollment has declined by about 300 students from the prior year and attendance had dipped year‑to‑date compared with the end of the previous year. Staff emphasized continuing campus outreach on attendance initiatives and noted the district is in the second year of a biennium with no additional state revenue expected until the next legislative session.
