With the state taking no action on increasing student funding, Ector County ISD Superintendent Scott Muri and Chief Financial Officer Deborah Ottmers discussed potential budget cuts Tuesday with the board of trustees that could include raising the number of students in some classrooms.
Last June, trustees adopted a $346 million budget with a $14 million deficit.
Ottmers said at this point it looks like the deficit will come down to $7.5 million. This would give the district 99 days of fund balance.
She said there was extra money in the budget in case the bond didn’t pass.
Next year’s budget could have a $24 million deficit and leave the district with a 71 day fund balance for 2024-25.
Ottmers said the state has not increased the revenue basic general fund allotment of $6,160 per student since 2019-20.
That $6,160 per student pays for “run of the mill” students, assuming they come to school every single day, Ottmers said.
ECISD gets additional funds for special education, gifted and talented and economically disadvantaged students, Ottmers said.
This is the sixth year that there has not been an increase in the basic student allotment.
The legislature won’t go back into session until January 2025.
Inflation is also a factor in how we got here, Ottmers said. Things that cost $1 in 2019 are $1.22 now.
A year ago, Raise Your Hand Texas says the Texas legislature should increase the basic allotment by $1,000 while accounting for a permanent inflationary adjustment. Other increases that are out of the district’s control are special education, security and safety and property, liability insurance and fuel.
Muri said he would like to cut that $24 million deficit in half.
Potential budget reductions, some of which have already been approved by the board are:
- Repurpose Burleson Elementary School for a prekindergarten center in 2025-26.
- Repurpose Travis Elementary in 2024-25.
- Transitioning Ector Middle School back into ECISD, saving $2.5 million. Ector was run by Third Future charter school network and Ector Academy Success Network before that because it had underperformed for several years.
- Software efficiencies, for instance redundant software, saving $1,057,000.
- Contracted services efficiencies, $1,345,000. Muri said this would be eliminating contracted services organizationally. The district has a variety of outside entities that they contract with for coaching to providing support in every division of the organization.
- Central office/non-campus efficiencies such as reorganizing “central office systems and the way we do our work,” Muri said.
- Eliminate the hour of after-school programming at choice campuses, $365,000.
- Elementary paraprofessional efficiencies, $1.1 million. Muri said that would mean looking across the system at paraprofessionals to see where, for example, they can eliminate some positions that are potentially redundant or “just not necessary.”
- Middle school double block reorganization, $1.5 million.
- Elementary increase class size from 25 to 28 (save 19 teaching positions) $1,425,000.
- Secondary increase class size in core classes from 24 to 30 (save 69 teaching positions) $5,175,000.
The total savings is $16,725,000, Muri said.
He added that the positions he mentioned were unfilled vacancies and none of this puts people on the street.
He added that he anticipates two areas that will increase in cost are special education and school safety. But the district could get some state grants for school safety.
Parkhill and PBK were selected by the Ector County ISD Board of Trustees Tuesday as the architects for several large bond projects.
Parkhill will design the Permian High School auditorium renovation for $12.5 million; design the new transportation center ($35 million) and the JROTC facilities at PHS and Odessa High School ($1.5 million).
The auditorium renovation is budgeted for $12.5 million; the new transportation center for $35 million; and JROTC facilities, $1.5 million.
PBK will design the new Career and Technical Education Center and new middle school.
The budgeted cost for the CTE center is $80 million and the middle school $120 million. Ottmers said the district has spent about 1 percent of the bond proceeds. Voters approved proposition 1 of a three proposition bond for $424 million Nov. 7.
