BURTON SCHOOL BOARD DISCUSSES YEAR-END BUDGET EXPECTATIONS, ESTIMATES FOR NEW BUDGET

  

The Burton School Board held a budget workshop on Tuesday to go over where Burton ISD expects the current financial year to close out and how the proposed budget is shaping up.

Burton ISD Business Manager Caitlyn Blakey-Staal said the district is projecting general fund expenditures of $11,401,555 for the 2025-26 budget, a reduction from the 2024-25 general fund budget of $11,684,832. 

A major change in the budget is for instruction expenses, which are slated to go up from $4,130,025 to $4,982,293.  The increase will go toward employee pay raises established in the district’s compensation plan, as well as the benefits attached to the state-funded pay raises for teachers.

Due to an increase in Burton ISD’s certified property values, which are coming in at $1.6 billion compared to $1.3 billion last year, the district is expecting to pay much less in recapture to the state, at $2.5 million in the new budget compared to $3.725 million this past year.  The higher values also translate to a lower maximum for the tax rate, due to state compression; Blakey-Staal said the highest rate that could be adopted is $0.6250 per $100 valuation.

One of the reasons for the lower general fund expenditures in the new budget is because of less being budgeted in maintenance, due to unplanned expenses this past year.  Blakey-Staal said the district had to take care of issues such as HVAC and plumbing, bus repairs and replacing a bus engine. 

The aforementioned expenses, along with higher property insurance and costs incurred for construction attorneys stemming from the district’s ongoing lawsuit, will mean the district has to pull roughly $375,000 from fund balance to close out the current budget.  This will reduce the fund balance to $2,956,074, which equates to about 3.2 months of operating expenses.  Blakey-Staal said the typical fund balance range recommended by auditors is between three and six months.

Trustees thanked Blakey-Staal and her team for their work on the budget, with Trustee Dean Fuchs saying the district is within 3 percent of its budget from last year after all of the unforeseen costs, and Trustee Demetrius Colvin Sr. saying they “really dug deep”.  Trustee Mike Clyde said while the budget numbers look favorable, the district needs to remain “penny-wise” as costs continue to climb.

The district must prepare a proposed budget by August 20^th and adopt a budget by August 31^st. 

The board then went into executive session for a training session on the superintendent evaluation process, to allow trustees to better understand the evaluation framework.  The action item for the superintendent’s contract was tabled and will be discussed at the board’s meeting on August 11^th.