School districts across Texas are feeling the financial effects of the COVID-19 crisis as they work on budgets for the upcoming school year. Districts must finalize their 2020-2021 budgets by July 1.
In some of the state’s biggest cities, school districts – like Houston Independent School District – have scaled back planned pay increases, or instituted hiring freezes as has Austin Independent School District.
In the case of Austin ISD, KXAN reported on June 9 that the chief financial officer says it’s still unclear how the recession will impact schools. But they are concerned.
“The gathering storm clouds bare an eerie resemblance to the ones we saw on the horizon before the Texas Legislature cut $5.4 billion from education funding in 2011,” said Nicole Conley, Chief Financial Officer for the school district.
The Austin ISD has not made cuts yet, but they have put a hold on hiring new employees. A public hearing to discuss the district’s budget will be held on June 22.
At Georgetown Independent School District, unexpected expenses related to the pandemic have emerged, such as technology purchases and meal distribution. Officials told Community Impact that the district spent $283,000 on coronavirus-related expenses in March alone.
Upon switching to providing meals to students and adults in the community – a hot lunch and prepackaged breakfast for the next morning – Georgetown distributed 6,042 meals between March 23 and March 31, costing the district $19,800.
There has been a trade-off though: the district expected to see utility expenses drop by 23 percent in March, and they have seen fuel and maintenance costs decrease.
When Gov. Greg Abbott told state agencies to trim five percent from their budgets in preparation for an economic shock, he exempted the schools in the state from those cuts, according to the Texas Tribune.
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