The latest news from LISD.

Lewisville ISD Legislators,

I hope you're doing well. I’m reaching out to share a concern that is having a huge impact on Lewisville ISD. The recent budget adopted by the Denton County Appraisal District (DCAD) is putting a significant strain on our district. We’re looking at an additional $525,000 expense for the fiscal year 2025, which unfortunately translates to losing about eight teaching positions.

This comes at a tough time for us. Unlike DCAD employees who are set to receive a 3% cost of living raise and some an additional 2% merit increase, our employees aren't getting any raises due to our tight budget. The difference is stark and frustrating, especially when our staff's paychecks are shrinking due to rising insurance costs.

Attached you will find letters from Lewisville ISD and Denton ISD to DCAD. Both districts communicated with DCAD about our concerns numerous times prior to them adopting their 2024-25 budget. I will be transparent with you - we are disappointed and quite frankly very frustrated that DCAD moved forward with their proposed budget despite our feedback about the negative impact on our district.

Without an increase in the basic allotment, we simply can’t keep up with rising costs and additional budget demands from DCAD. As we’ve shared with you often, the basic allotment has not increased since 2019. Over that time, you can see our contribution to DCAD has ballooned from nearly $3.2M to more than $4.7M.

DCAD Budget Impact to Lewisville ISD

2018-19 $3,153,592

2019-20 $3,382,644

2020-21 $3,449,366

2021-22 $3,526,894

2022-23 $3,724,311

2023-24 $4,101,593

2024-25 $4,730,705 (Budget)

Over the past five years, we’ve had to send over $200 million in recapture payments to the state—money that doesn’t directly help our district. Despite the media’s portrayal, school funding isn’t as robust as it seems, and the state funding formula doesn’t take inflation into account.

We truly value the services DCAD provides and our partnership with them, but the current financial demands are unsustainable for us, and the same can be said for school districts across our region and our state. We need your support to push for changes that will secure stable funding for public education. Specifically, we’re asking for an increase in the basic allotment to help us manage inflation and keep up with costs.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for considering our situation. We’re committed to finding solutions that work for everyone in our community and hope we can count on your support.