"We believe we have a budget that is responsible, but it is extremely tight," Superintendent Dr. Michael McFarland said. "It has never been tighter than what it is now."
Crowley ISD's tax rate will be considered in August.
McFarland told trustees that while CISD's assessed property values have increased by about 26% because of growth in the area, the state's tax compression formula means CISD's Maintenance & Operations tax rate is expected to drop by about 8 cents.
"As we increase in local assessed property value, the state compresses the amount of money that we can actually generate," he said.
The only way to significantly increase revenue to the district is through the Weighted Average Daily Attendance (WADA), but the challenge in CISD and statewide is that the WADA is down about 3% after the COVID pandemic.
"If we have 17,000 students enrolled, we have to budget based on 17,000 students, but we actually get paid based on our Weighted Average Daily Attendance, and that number is more like 14,800 or so," McFarland said. "It puts us in a very tight budget situation, even if it looks around us as if we are flush with revenue — that is not the case."
The district will need to dip deeper into its Fund Balance than it would normally for the 2023-24 budget. The district's goal is to keep its Fund Balance between 17 to 25% of general operating expenditures. The approved 2023-24 budget represents a Fund Balance with about 17.1% of general operating expenditures, while the district expects to conclude the 2022-23 budget year with a Fund Balance that represents 23.7% of expenditures.
McFarland said the district has redoubled efforts to pursue grants and additional funds outside of this budget to help offset costs not funded by the state. As part of this budget, CISD also will not fill existing vacant positions unrelated to the classroom and will reduce other personnel costs not related to the classroom.
"We're not letting the state off the hook, but I assure you that we're going to protect the quality of the experience for students in the district — we're just going to find a different way of funding the things that we need to do," he said.
The superintendent said he hopes the Texas Legislature will still act to provide public schools with additional funding in an additional legislative session.
"With this budget, we'll still be able to reward our employees, provide a high-quality experience for our students, but it will mean we'll have to rely more on philanthropy, and we're pursuing several grants," he said. "All is not lost, but it is important for the state to do their part."
In addition to the General Operating Fund budget, the board also approved a Debt Service budget of $39.6 million in expenditures and a Child Nutrition budget of $10.3 million in expenditures.
Moffett has seven years of teaching experience and 19 years of administrative experience, including serving as the principal of Crowley High School, North Crowley Ninth Grade, Crowley Middle School and Sue Crouch Intermediate. He also has served as an associate principal and assistant principal at North Crowley High School and assistant principal at Sue Crouch Intermediate.
Lotten has worked in Lancaster ISD since 2004, serving as the Fine Arts director, assistant Fine Arts director, founding artistic director of the first elementary Fine Arts academy in Lancaster ISD and coordinator for the Performing and Visual Arts, among other roles.
She has five years of administrative experience and 14 years of teaching experience.
Jackson is currently energy coordinator in Crowley ISD and previously served as a Cenergistic energy specialist for the district starting in 2014.
She is an Accredited Energy Manager (AEM), member of the Texas Energy Managers Association and a Certified Texas School Business Official (CTSBO).
Layne also served as principal of Everman High School, O.D. Wyatt High School, Navo Middle School in Denton ISD and Everman Academy High School and Baxter Junior High. Prior to those roles, he worked as a teacher, coach and assistant principal at North Crowley High School.
Knox also worked as special education coordinator and special education instructional specialist in Crowley ISD as well as a seventh- and eighth-grade inclusion teacher at H.F. Stevens Middle School. She also served as an elementary teacher in Fort Worth ISD.
Bundy previously served as an assistant principal and math teacher at Travis Science Academy in Temple, Texas.
She also worked as an adjunct professor of mathematics at Temple College.
