BURTON ISD PROPOSING $15.9 MILLION BUDGET
DISTRICT SAYS HIGHER PROPERTY VALUES LED TO BUDGET ALMOST DOUBLING FROM LAST YEAR
Burton ISD’s proposed budget for the new school year is nearly double the amount of last year.
At Monday’s Burton School Board meeting, Business Manager Caitlyn Blakey-Staal told trustees that the projected budget amounts to $15.9 million, compared to a budget of $8.3 million this past year.
Blakey-Staal said an explosion in taxable property values is a primary factor in the increased budget, saying they have gone up from $880 million last year to $1.5 billion this year. She said the district is expecting to pay $5.5 million to the Texas Education Agency, almost four times the amount of last year’s recapture payment of $1.4 million.
Blakey-Staal said the higher values do not benefit the school district so much as they do the state, saying, “We’re not hurt from it, but we’re not helped at all.”
The next-highest appropriations in the budget are instruction at $3.6 million and debt service at $2.8 million.
The proposed tax rate is $1.0546 per $100 valuation, up from last year’s rate of $0.9782 per $100. The new rate has a lower maintenance and operations (M&O) rate than last year at $0.8546, but the interest and sinking (I&S) rate, which pays for bond debt, is higher at $0.2000. Last year’s rate consisted of $0.9033 for M&O and $0.0749 for I&S.
A public hearing on the budget and tax rate will be held Monday, August 29th at 6 p.m.
Also on Monday, the board approved:
- Continuing Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) to provide meals to all students at no charge. Superintendent Dr. Edna Kennedy said the district wanted to continue the program to help families dealing with higher costs. The district will pay $33,000 to continue CEP for students. The board will consider a similar item to pay for teachers’ meals at a future meeting.
- An interior keyless access control system from KLC Video Security for $53,480. The system will cover the school entry, classrooms and all halls and doorways in the district. The action follows the board’s approval of a proposal in June for exterior cameras.
- The elementary campus, secondary campus and district improvement plan.
- Updated public health guidance from the Texas Education Agency.
- The teacher appraisal calendar.
- The employee and student handbooks and the student code of conduct.