via The Austin Chronicle
See that thing down the road? That's the Austin Independent School District budgetary can, and it got kicked there last night by the board of trustees. If that sounds harsh, they'll pretty much admit to that themselves.
The board met last night, Aug. 23, to approve the 2010-11 budget and set the new tax property tax rate to cover that budget. It was, after last week's divisive public meeting, a quiet and sparsely-attended affair. However, with 86,000 students enrolled in the district and a total budget of almost a billion dollars, these weren't exactly small decisions on the agenda.
First up, let's look at what the board approved.
1: The 2010-11 budget
| Subject | Revenue | Spending | Unexpended funds |
| General Funds | $837,974,727 | $844,230,727 | -$6,256,000 |
| Food Services | $38,191,974 | $38,708,409 | -$516,435 |
| Debt Service | $85,618,820 | $91,058,764 | -$5,439,944 |
| Total | $961,785,521 | $973,997,900 | -$12,256,379 |
All three budget categories dip into their respective fund balances: However, that will still leave the district with $156,594,074 in its coffers.
The district has also stressed that its in-district general funds spending will only be $716 million for the year: However, it will also pay out $128 million in "Robin Hood" recapture payments to the state, which brings the total general fund spending to $844 million.
2: A Tax Increase
There's some confusion out there about this, so let's clarify. There will be a tax rate increase. Yup, you read that right, but calm down. There will be an increase in the Interest & Sinking rate component of the tax bill of 2.5 cents per $100 of appraised property value. However, since the average appraised value has actually dropped 3.7%, that means the average property owner won't see any change in their bill.
3: No Fight With The Business Community
After last Thursday's contentious public budget input meeting, where the threats from the business community about any other tax raises varied from subtle to out-right opposition, the board backed away from adding revenue and meekly pledged to look for other ways to find cuts.
4: A bonus for Superintendent Meria Carstarphen
For reaching most of her normal targets, the new super got a pre-agreed $19,000, plus an extra $22,500 for getting schools out of Academically Unacceptable status.
5: A Commitment to Start on The 2011-12 Budget Now
Now those with a good memory will recall that the board and administration said they were going to get a good head start on the 2010-11 budget straight after passing the 2009-10 budget. So why will this year be different? Board President Mark Williams said, "We probably were overly-optimistic last year with a new superintendent and all the other challenges we had." With immediate crises like the state-mandated Pearce Middle School re-purposing and the development of a new strategic plan, Williams said, "I think there was so much demand on her time that it really made it very difficult for her to deeply scrub everything, particularly in the Fall, which is when you want to do it."
Now, let's look at what the board didn't approve …
1: A Totally Balanced Budget
Call it semantics, but the $12 million dip into the three fund balances isn't everyone's definition of balanced. However, the reasoned counter-argument is that's exactly why you keep fund balances in the first place.
2: A Different Tax Increase
This was the controversial one. The board had been heading towards requesting a five cent increase on the Maintenance and Operations part of the tax bill. That's the bit that pays for general operations, and they were looking to do four things with this:
– Cover the lost revenue from the property value drop
– A 3% teacher pay raise
– Continued full Pre-K funding
– Extra funding for East Austin Schools.
Teachers will get a 0.85% step increase mandated by the legislature in 2009: Pre-K funding will be found elsewhere in the budget: And there is some funding for those schools built into Carstarphen's Turnaround initiative project. However, that's barely scraping the surface of the low pay and underfunding that everyone concedes plagues the district.
Now if you're confused about the 5 cent M&O versus the 2.5 cent I&S, here's the quick explanation. I&S pays for debt, and the state allows districts to shift that rate to pay off their debt without asking for voter approval. However, a change in M&O requires a ballot initiative because, well, the state never tires of making life difficult for school districts.
Since this would be a grand total of about 30 cents a day increase on taxes on an averaged-price home, why not even bring it up for a vote? Because the chamber didn't back it. The district administration and the board made the political calculation that it was better to not get into a stand-up, knock-down fight with the business community.
The downside? Even though Education Austin agreed to back down from its request for a tax rollback election, giving the board the out it needed to avoid its own awkward vote, this won't be forgotten. That the board – especially members who had made public and private statements of support for a teacher pay increase – rolled over so decisively will not be readily forgiven either.
3: Anything For Classified And Para-Professional Workers
Yup, the lowest paid workers remain as badly paid as ever. The board didn't even take up a request from the Southwest Workers Union that they give cafeteria workers an extra $50 a year for uniforms. They currently get $100 (less than half of what their uniform costs) but they have it better than bus drivers, who get nothing. The union has just filed a grievance complaint about that disparity.
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