Leander ISD looking to cut teacher, admin positions to make up budget deficit

LEANDER, Texas - Leander ISD has announced plans to cut staff, including teachers, in an effort to address its 2025-26 budget deficit.

Leander ISD Superintendent Bruce Gearing announced the changes in a letter to staff released on Wednesday.

Leander ISD's budget deficit

By the numbers:

Leander ISD says that the district is facing a projected $34.4 million deficit for the 2025-26 school year –a $21-million deficit above the board-approved deficit parameter. 

The district says that it is experiencing a 22% rise in inflation like many other school districts and Texas families, as well as seeing funding cut for instructional materials, limiting resources for textbooks and classroom materials. 

The district is also expecting to lose $1.5 million in Title I funds, which support academic resources for low-income students, and $1.5 million from the Medicaid reimbursement program called SHARS (Student Health and Related Services), which covers costs related to therapy support for students with disabilities.

Leander ISD also says that the district’s growth has slowed, which has prompted it to use a "reduced growth" enrollment projection.

The district believes that with the announced cuts, it will be able to cut the budget gap to around $17 million, just $4 million above the board-approved deficit parameter.

The district announced on Wednesday that it is planning for a reduction of approximately $3 million (6%) at the central office level and approximately $12.8 million (5.8%) at the campus level. 

Staffing allocations for 2025-26 reduced

Leander ISD says that 87% of its budget is dedicated to "human capacity", making changes without impacting staffing difficult.

Principals across the district received modifications to their staffing allocations for 2025-26.

By the numbers:

Leander ISD broke down the staffing modifications for elementary, middle and high schools. 

Leander ISD currently has 30 elementary schools, nine middle schools, six high schools and three alternative campuses. The modifications listed below are districtwide, not by campus.

Elementary School

At the elementary school level, Leander ISD says it plans to cut:

• 13.5 library instructional aides
• 31 teachers
• 1 Dual Language teacher
• 8 instructional aides
• 1 Dual Language instructional aide
• 3 assistant principals
• 1 intervention teacher
• 1 media/innovation specialist
• 4 counselors
• 1 PE instructional aide
• 2 International Baccalaureate (IB) coordinators
• 2 Spanish teachers

These cuts are expected to save the district $3,784,409. 

The district will also add five Dual Language teacher positions and one instructional coach. 

The district also plans to eliminate the IB primary years program.

Middle School

At the middle school level, Leander ISD plans to cut:

• 6 student success facilitators (repurposing three of them)
• 6 assistant principals
• 46.5 teacher positions

These cuts are expected to save the district $4,017,562. 

High School

At the middle school level, Leander ISD plans to cut:

• 6 administrators
• 71.5 teacher positions
• 1 curriculum specialist
• 1 dean of innovation
• 1 administrative intern
• 1 counselor
• 2 IB coordinators

These cuts are expected to save the district $5,698,209.

The district plans to add one media specialist, one attendance clerk and one administrative assistant/registrar and eliminate the IB program.

Other cuts

Central office positions will also be cut and there will be a reduction in the operating budgets to the tune of $3 million. 

However, the exact nature of those cuts was not outlined as of Wednesday.

Leander ISD says in addition to reducing staff, it will also be eliminating its Empowerment Fund, a $2 million grant program available to staff to drive initiatives that support deeper learning. 

What's next:

The district says that principals and campus leaders are working with area superintendents and human resources personnel to implement these adjustments "thoughtfully and supportively". 

What you can do:

Superintendent Gearing also encouraged families to contact their state senators and representatives.

"As a final thought, I would like to express that we did not get into this position overnight. There has been a systematic and prolonged effort by some to undermine public education in Texas. The State Legislature left $4.5 billion that was appropriated for public education unused last session. They are meeting again right now to decide how to spend the appropriations they have available to them in the current session. Draft House and Senate base budgets show revenue flowing to only some educators," said Gearing at the end of the announcement.

Note: This section contained information about webinars, but Leander ISD has since clarified that those were not for district families, but instead for staff.

The backstory:

In 2019, the Texas Legislature passed HB 3 and Gov. Greg Abbott signed it into law.

HB 3 was expected to pump billions of new dollars into schools, expanding pre-K and special needs programs, beefing up retirement plans and scaling back the controversial Robin Hood formula.  

Leander ISD says the state has not increased school funding since then, despite rising operational costs. Also, the district says the Legislature left $4.5 billion that was appropriated for public education unused last session. 

The Legislature also passed another HB 3 in 2023, which required school districts to have an armed security guard, armed police officer, or armed employee on every public school campus in Texas. This one was put forth in response to the May 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

Local perspective:

Leander ISD is also not the only Texas school district feeling the budget crunch.

Districts all across the state say they are dealing with different versions of the same problem: a lack of funding from the state, says 7 On Your Side reporter John Krinjak.

Neighboring district Austin ISD is currently operating with a $92 million deficit. The school board is finalizing plans to make that much in cuts over three years. 

Districts in the Dallas area and Houston are also facing tough decisions and large budget deficits.

Dallas ISD is currently dealing with a $152 million deficit. That's about $35 million less than the original $186 million shortfall for this year. But painful cuts were made. Among them, the elimination of hundreds of positions—including cutting 55 assistant principal jobs.

Nearby, in Coppell ISD, the board of trustees recently voted to close Pinkerton Elementary. 

Houston ISD is facing the largest deficit of all this year, about $250 million. That's double the original projected shortfall, after Superintendent Mike Miles said the district would dip into savings to cover things like building maintenance and classroom instruction. 

All this comes after Houston ISD made major cuts last year. 

Big picture view:

Gov. Abbott outlined three education-related emergency items in his State of the State address: increasing teacher pay, expanding career training, and school choice.

One of those items, school choice, is being debated by the Texas Senate in the form of SB 2, which would create "education savings accounts" that incentivize pulling students from public school to attend private schools.

The bill would create education savings accounts from taxpayer money for families who are interested in private education over public with up to $10,000 per year per student. Students with disabilities could get up to $11,500.

The bill would have a lottery system where 80 percent of the funds would be allocated to students who have special needs or are in low-income households. The remaining 20 percent would be open to any student based on lottery selection.

The funds could be used to pay for private school tuition, public school costs, tutors and books. 

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