Eanes school board members approved a new budget for the 2009-2010 school year during a public meeting Aug. 26.

 

Expenditures for the coming year were estimated at $120,781,242. Those expenses are more than the $116,171,521 the district expects to collect in revenues for the year, resulting in the need to pull $4,602,721 from the general fund balance.

“We are very lucky to have this fund,” Superintendent Nola Wellman told board members after they unanimously approved the budget for the coming year.

Board members also approved the district’s property tax rate for the 2009-2010 school year – $1.2025 per $100 taxable value. That rate, $1.04 for the general fund and 0.1625 for debt service, remains the same as the rate in effect for the previous year.

The average market value of a residence in the Eanes school district rose to $697,369, up 18 percent fro the $684,956 average value for the 2008-2009 school year. The total taxable value of property in the district was estimated by the Travis County Chief Appraiser’s Office as $9,788,853,302, resulting in $113,727,490 in expected taxes. The school district taxes due on an average residence will rise slightly to $ 7,675.55 in the coming year, an increase of $404.36 from last year.

More than $54.2 million of the expenses incurred by the school district come from the recapture payment made to the state to help fund the cost of low-income school districts, leaving only $66.6 million for the district to spend providing education. Payroll costs account for $53.5 million – the lion’s share of education expenses. Board members recently approved a $1.25 million pay increase for teachers and employees; part of that salary increase was mandated by the state with no funding provision.

The district’s draw from the general fund balance to cover expenses would reduce the rainy day fund from $32 million to approximately $27.4 million at the end of the school year. District administrators predict that, if the burn rate continues on the fund balance unabated by additional government funding support of public education, the Eanes school district fund balance will be reduced to $14.3 million by the 2011-2012 school year.

That’s a level that makes board members uncomfortable. The Texas Education Agency recommends that school districts maintain a reserve balance to equal two to three months of operating expenses. That translates in an emergency fund cushion of approximately $11.7 million for the Eanes school district. Continual drawdown from the general fund balance at predicted rates would reduce it below that level by he 2012-13 school year. Since the majority of the yearly district budget is tied up in salaries, that means staff and program cuts once the fund balance is drained. Administrators say they will begin looking at program cuts in the 2010-2011 school year unless things change. They look to the state to come to terms with the under funding problem and solve it in the next legislative session.

“The big districts are going to run out of money before we do,” said Paul Stone, school board vice president. “That’s the thing that gives me some hope that something will be done.”