Duncanville ISD CFO presents $8 million draft deficit, warns reserves could be exhausted by 2029

Shauna Pumphrey, chief financial officer for Duncanville ISD, presented a first‑draft $8 million general‑fund deficit for fiscal 2627 and reviewed the district's near‑term fiscal outlook during a board budget workshop. "I'm bringing forward to the board an $8 million deficit budget as our first draft," Pumphrey said.

Pumphrey told trustees the district adopted an $18.1 million deficit budget in the prior year, amended it to a $12.6 million deficit in the fall, and has closed about $5.39 million of that gap this year. She said activity‑year projections without recently approved track repairs would leave an approximate $8 million deficit; including the track repairs the expected year‑end shortfall rises to approximately $10.7 million.

The CFO said the district currently holds reserves equivalent to about five months of operating expenses (TEA guidance around three months), described average monthly expenditures near $11.2 million, and warned that at current spending and revenue assumptions the district could exhaust reserves by 2029 if corrective steps are not sustained.

Pumphrey walked trustees through the draft revenue assumptions underlying the budget: an estimated enrollment of 11,122 students (a net increase of 54 in preliminary projections), an average daily attendance rate of about 91.37% (roughly 10,162 students in attendance for funding calculations), and base state aid estimated at approximately $6,215 per attending student. She cautioned that property‑value certification and appeals remain pending and that those figures will affect final revenue estimates.

On combined funds, Pumphrey said the draft shows roughly $127 million in revenues and $135 million in expenditures across funds. She said the child nutrition fund is projected to break even after federal reimbursements but noted the general fund has absorbed about $250,000 per year in uncollected student meal charges that federal rules prevent the nutrition fund from retaining.

Pumphrey also reviewed debt‑service planning and a proposed refunding: the district has about $256 million in outstanding callable bonds and is considering refunding approximately $26,845,000; a bond consultant will present a refunding order to the board at the next board meeting.

Trustees asked for additional detail on several items, including campus‑level free/reduced eligibility and uncollected meal balances, a breakdown of co‑curricular spending by activity, and the campus‑level drivers of the modest enrollment increase. Pumphrey said staff will provide campus and program‑level follow‑up data. She emphasized that compensation proposals discussed later in the meeting were already incorporated into the draft budget.

Next steps: Pumphrey said staff will return with an informational update on May 18, target budget adoption at the June 15 board meeting and receive certified appraisal values from Dallas County on July 25; any necessary adjustments after TEA compression and final certification would be made in the fall. The board adjourned without voting on the draft budget at the workshop.