Board Approves 2012-2013 Budget

The Brownsville Independent School District Board of Trustees has approved a balanced $509.3 million operating budget for the 2012-2013 school year that includes a one-time pay supplement of $1,200 for all employees — but not the pay raise many had anticipated. Trustees approved the budget and pay supplement by a unanimous 5-0 vote at a board meeting that lasted into the early morning hours of Wednesday. They left approval of the district’s employee compensation plan pending. Trustees Enrique Escobedo and Rolando Aguilar did not attend the meeting. The board scheduled a budget committee meeting for 4:30 p.m. June 28 to resolve remaining issues with the compensation plan, which they agreed could then be approved at the next regular board meeting. That meeting was rescheduled from July 3 to July 10 because of the Fourth of July holiday. By law, BISD must adopt a balanced budget before July 1, the beginning of the district’s fiscal year. The budget represents a 7.1 percent increase over the current budget of $475.3 million. It is based on an average daily attendance rate of 96.3 percent, which generates about $17 million, and calls for spending $10,310 per student on the district’s 49,395 students, Chief Financial Officer Ismael Garcia said. A surefire way to increase revenue would be to raise the attendance rate. With 100 percent attendance, BISD would receive about $23 million, Garcia said. As late as last week, BISD administration had indicated that it would recommend a $1,600 pay raise, or 3.25 percent, for teachers, librarians and nurses, and pay increases ranging from 2.25 percent for administrative staff to 4.25 percent for nonexempt manual trades employees. The board and administration apparently decided a pay raise was too risky in the face of Gov. Rick Perry’s call for an additional 10 percent cut in state spending and amid reports that a similar reduction in federal spending for education is on the horizon. The majority of funding for public education in Texas comes from state and federal sources. Superintendent Carl A. Montoya said the budget meets the district’s overriding goal of safeguarding classroom instruction and learning. “Our goal was to preserve jobs and preserve effective programs,” Montoya said, adding that the pay supplement was the safest approach because it does not obligate the district to recurring costs in coming years’ budgets. The Texas Legislature begins work in January on the state budget for the next biennium. Many predict additional cuts for public education. However, should additional funds become available, officials left open the possibility of amending the budget to allow for pay raises. District officials also noted that the $1,200 pay supplement approved Tuesday distributes money evenly across the board and gets more money into the hands of lower-paid classified employees than would have been the case with pay raises. The board discussed paying the supplement in two payments, possibly around Thanksgiving and at the beginning of next summer. In an executive summary accompanying the budget, Garcia noted that it includes funds to maintain all-day pre-kindergarten instruction across the district and to open three new campuses — Breeden Elementary, Brownsville Early College High School and the Brownsville Academic Center. He said the budget also increases support for special education at all campuses, raises the compensation rate for campus tutorials to $30 per hour from $20 per hour, and funds the new STAMP college preparatory program at Veterans Memorial High School. The budget is based on a property tax rate of $1.0923 per $100 of taxable valuation — 1.0191 per $100 of taxable value for maintenance and operation and .0732 per $100 for debt service. The rate is unchanged from this year’s budget. Adoption will come at a later meeting.