Eanes ISD to make permanent changes to fix $6.3M budget deficit

Starting next fall, Eanes ISD will be making some permanent changes in hopes to fix a 6.3 million dollar budget shortfall.

The decision has been made to close Valley View Elementary for the next school year.

The school district will be giving an update on the merger between Barton Creek Elementary School and Valley View Elementary school during Tuesday night's school board meeting. 

Big picture view:

The decision is part of a broader effort by Eanes ISD to address a projected $3.3 million budget deficit in 2024-25 and an expected $6.3 million deficit in 2025-26, driven by declining student enrollment and stagnant state funding for public education.

The closure is expected to save approximately $2 million dollars.

During the 89th legislative session, a lot of school districts are hoping to see lawmakers take action to increase school funding.

On top of closing the campus, the district will discontinue the Spanish Immersion (SI) program and eliminate Professional Learning Community (PLC) periods for teachers of grades 6-12.

While budget cuts and tough choices are not unique to Eanes ISD, more than 60% of school districts are projecting deficits next year.

What they're saying:

"This has been a month's long process. We actually began this conversation last year, and it culminated this year, really occurred at the intersection of two kinds of critical variables for our school district," says Jeff Arnett, Eanes ISD superintendent.

"At the same time, we have these mounting budget issues, and we're looking to try to trim costs as much as we possibly can ahead of next school year. And unfortunately, this decision to close an elementary school happened at the crossroads of both of those very difficult topics," says Dr. Arnett.

"They have failed to increase that basic allotment year after year since 2019 in the same amount of time. We've seen inflation increase by over 20%. So, our costs to operate continue to go up, but our funding remains flat," says Eanes ISD board president James Spradley.

Board president James Spradley believes the cuts could be reversed in the future if the legislature takes action to raise the basic allotment.

"I would commit personally, that funds that come from the state will go to people. We will pay our teachers more. We will increase our staff salaries. And I think that that's the first step we want to take," says Spradley.

"We've tried to avoid those hard decisions over the last several years, but we no longer can avoid them. And so, as we look ahead to next year, there probably are some other decisions that we're going to have to make because we're not yet to the total number that we need to offset a potential $6.5 million deficit that we can see on the horizon," says Dr. Arnett.

What's next:

The Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees of Eanes Independent School District will be held Tuesday, January 28, 2025, beginning at 6:00 PM in the Board Room, S. Don Rogers Administration Building, 601 Camp Craft Road, Austin, Texas 78746.

The Source: Information in this article is from FOX 7 Austin's Jessica Rivera.

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