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Teachers Get Pay Decrease in New Budget and Community Doesn’t Care

The above caliche berm on the left side of this alley between 4th and 5th streets represents the sole flood control structure built by ICISD on its campus as part of the 2019 bonds. The school board budgeted no money in the 2023-24 budget to protect the community from the storm water runoff originating from their campus, even though they have had over 7 years of notice that runoff was a problem. Moreover, their own engineer stated that more stormwater is going into the basin after construction than before construction.

 

Update: This page was first posted on August 29, 2023 around 5:30 am and updated last on August 31 around 6:00 am.


Here are some of my comments regarding this meeting, divided first with the new budget and last with the budget amendments for the prior budget. Please note that I was the only member of the public present at the meeting, and I am available for discussion of this page so long as you contact me using your real name.


2023-24 Budget (See here for the District's comparison of the 2022-23 budget with the 2023-24 budget.)

  • The District is running an almost $23 million dollar budget with an approximate $101,000 deficit. A huge shift is underway because the District was so badly burned by the $840,000 shortfall from its 313 agreements that it decided this year to not even budget that source in as income. Any revenue in 23-24 from wind farms will be unplanned gravy. HERE IS ONE REASON OUR COMMUNITY NEEDS TO NOT BE COMPLACENT ABOUT SCHOOL FUNDING: I attended two of the three 2019 pre election bond meetings and then Supt. Brian Gray (with former Board President Vicente Flores) represented to our community that the 313 wind farm revenue was THE reason the proposed $18 million dollar bond was a no brainer. That money was represented as the economic justification for the bonds. Now, as we enter the first full budget cycle after the completion of the bond build out, the District is sucking wind from it being an unreliable source! That source of revenue, to the extent it exists, also dries up after 15 years. So, what we now have is City Gym, which is going to suck from M&O funds for its lifetime, and at most be used for competitive sports by students 3 months out of the year!

  • Payroll increased about 4% overall, and that includes benefits and anything payroll related. It's impossible, without drilling down with an Open Records request, to get anywhere close to a high level of reliability on this number given the lack of information provided at the board meeting. But, it is safe to say that a 4% pay raise in this economy, especially if it included benefits, is a pay decrease for teachers. "At least we are trying to stop the bleeding" was the only thing CFO Robert Helms could say about it. Helms didn't say the "layoff" word, but he did say the "overstaffed" word. It is transparent that more cuts are being considered.

  • Extra-curricular activities (largely athletics) received a reduction of approximately 30%, going from $1,730 per student to $1,169 per student. If anything, this shows a re-alignment in values that should have taken place well before the 2019 bonds. Those bonds placed such an excessive priority on athletic facilities. Remember: not a single classroom was built with the 2019 bonds! (Before Supt. DeSpain was a superintendent, he was a football coach. And before him, Supt. Gray, who spearheaded the new gym, came to the District with a prior professional relationship with Jeff Potter, Architect. Potter designed City Gym and the gym where Gray was previously the supt., Union Grove ISD.)

  • Helms's report also included that the one area that could not be cut was Plant M&O. Two reasons the District is experiencing explosive cost increases are from electricity and AC repair expenses. The budget here has increased roughly $270,000! Taxpayers deserve a Bill of Rights for school bonds that includes the anticipated M&O expenses over the lifetime of any capital improvement paid for by public bonds.

  • Debt service on the bonds compared to Instruction: This budget shows the District is now paying more to service its debt than on instruction of its students. The budget for debt service is $3,760,206 and the budget for instruction is $3,396,692. That is $363,514 more for debt service than instruction. Toss in there an overall M&O budget of almost $942,000, and that adds up to a plant heavy, teacher poor school district.


2022-23 Budget Amendments


The Board approved a slate of year end budget amendments, and, as I objected here and here, they were passed "as presented". After attending the meeting and even listening to the audio of the meeting multiple times, I cannot synthesize down the slate of amendments to funding categories with dollar amounts. A cost conscious taxpayer cannot get a complete picture of how the budget is being amended by merely attending the board meeting. The District needs to make the financial data its CFO makes available to Board at the meeting public on its website before the meeting and have copies available for members of the public who attend the meeting. Otherwise, an open records request is necessary, and that takes months and burns up resources.


All that said, here are a few highlights:

  • The District is having to reach into its savings account (Fund Balance) at year end $559,000. My recollection is that the fund balance is over 9 million, so this is a sizeable reach.

  • Interest revenue and less than expected "recapture" dollars (funds the State gets because of the mineral wealth in the county) significantly reduced an over $900,000 deficit. It's dumb luck that interest rates were high and recapture was overbudgeted so that the $840,000 wind farm and $98,000 athletic department deficits were offset.

  • The District is spending down bonds at year end $4 million. It's not correct to say, in my opinion, that this is money the District got to "keep" and avoid recapture by the State because the capital improvements are like lead weight on the District's Maintenance and Operations budget. What looks like a wise recapture avoidance tool turns into an albatross.

  • Athletics received another budget amendment, $25,000. Grand total for the year in Athletics amendments is roughly $123,000.

  • Electricity costs had been budgeted at about $18,000 a month, but now with increased rates and City Gym the District is paying a whopping $23,000 a month.

  • New construction had $400,000 budgeted and received a budget amendment of $30,000, apparently for wiring and "safety". (Alarm bells should go off when the "safety" word is used. The District's Safety and Security Committee has not met publicly in over a year, so it is impossible to say whether the safety expenses here are justifiable. An entire street and alley were closed to build a new gym on unsubstantiated "safety" reasons! "Safety" in the school setting is often a dog whistle.)


The Board had an important discussion on proposing a "rolling bond" as a way to get some funding relief. If they pursue this, watch for a bond election in the Spring of 2024. I am suspending judgment on such a proposal, with the exception of this caveat: CFO Robert Helms' comment to the Board that it is easy to pass a bond because oil companies pay for most of it is oversimplistic and short sighted. If anything, Government In Sun is showing that this Board is tone deaf when it comes to taxpayers and landowners...and the financial condition of the District post 2019 bonds has been misrepresented, while its funding values are entirely misplaced.


Concluding thoughts on the budget:

Find me a high school student inspired to go to college because of a campus building, and I'll show you an architect major. Most college students are not architect majors. But, find me a high school student inspired to go to college because of a special teacher they once had, and I'll show you a meaningful education.


And finally, what this page is about: Find me a community willing and able to justly question, in public and without fear of retribution or alienation, the decisions of its elected school board members, and I'll show you a vibrant democracy. "The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next," said Abraham Lincoln. Always, always, always pay attention when no one shows up at school board meetings. That failure to appear is evidence of the disfunction of our educational system and our government. And, that community silence is deafening at ICISD.




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© 2025 by George Noelke

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