At Katy ISD’s Board of Trustees meeting on March 24, board members heard a 2025-2026 budget update from CFO Chris Smith as well as recommendations for district staffing for next year from Chief Human Resources Office Brian Schuss.

Smith said that district officials were watching the 89th legislative session closely and that action was anticipated on use of the state surplus budget, school safety, property tax cuts and potential changes to the homestead exemption, approval of education savings accounts and changes to special education.

Smith said that KISD is planning for slower growth in student enrollment next year, with a projected increase of only 0.5 percent compared to 1.4 percent growth this year; the total projected increase of 524 students will take the district to 97,186 students. Because the district is opening two new elementary schools as well as adding a grade level to the new Freeman High School, the district will need to add new teachers, compared to 131 added for the current year. Additional non-teacher positions (including special education positions) will be up by 149, compared to an increase of 186 this year. While the district was able to give a three percent salary increase this year, Smith said that a salary increase for next year “is not modeled at this time.”

The district is currently in a good financial position, Smith said, due to rising property values, an increase in student attendance and a declining maintenance and operations (M&O) tax rate. Challenges include sluggish enrollment, allotment caps imposed by the state on programs such as the fast-growth allotment and on programs for dyslexia and for gifted and talented students, and changes to the SHARS program. Smith gave two examples of programs that are underfunded by the state, including school safety and the transportation allotment. Revenue is stagnant in the face of inflation, he said.

Smith is projecting a budget deficit for next year of $37.9 million; this year’s deficit was projected to be $26.7 million but underspending by the district reduced that amount to about $8.1 million. He said that if the legislature does increase basic per-student allotment which funds public schools, that there would likely be “strings attached” such as a requirement to increase salaries for teachers.

Brian Schuss, the district's chief human resource officer, presented a more detailed blueprint for staffing additions for the coming school year, totaling 262 new positions. The plan is based on both slow growth enrollment trends and on the need to add staff at the two new elementary schools and at Freeman High. The district plans to add 203 more teachers (63 elementary and 110 secondary), of which 87 are special education positions. Other new campus staff positions will total 59. For the new elementaries, Boudny Elementary will be allotted 92 teachers and Cross Elementary will have 126 teachers, and the addition of a grade level at Freeman High will add 56 teachers at that campus. The board is expected to vote on the proposed staffing plan at the March 31 regular board meeting.

Katy Police Chief David Rider, along with Director of Emergency Management and School Safety Ruben Martinez, presented a proposal for the installation of “fliplock” devices on classroom doors. The unique locking devices would only be used in the case of a campus lockdown, Rider said, and would secure the doors. KISD already requires that classroom doors be locked during instructional time, he said. The fliplocks would add an additional layer of protection as well as giving students and staff a “visual affirmation” that the door is locked and secure during a lockdown. The proposal, which must be approved by the board in a future meeting, would install 11,000 of the devices on doors of every classroom where attendance is taken, Rider said. Installation would take place after hours and during the summer and the process is expected to be completed by the start of the 2025-2026 school year. The project would be funded from savings from the 2023 bond, CFO Chris Smith said. The total project cost was not disclosed during the presentation.

Chief Operations Officer Ted Vierling presented a recommendation for an attendance boundary modification which would affect about 65 students currently zoned to Cinco Ranch Junior High, moving them to Tays Junior High. The proposed change would affect students living in Land Use Zones 60C (south of Westheimer Parkway near Grayson Lakes) and 60D (the Westlake neighborhood northeast of Gaston Road near Tompkins High). A parent who was the lone speaker during public comments said that Tays Junior High is closer to their neighborhood, but that Cinco Ranch Junior High is 4.5 miles away. Vierling said that because the distance to Tays is walkable from the neighborhood, that the district could eliminate a bus route. The district will move forward with a survey of families in the affected area, to be conducted April 1-30 using electronic surveys, email, written correspondence and telephone calls to solicit feedback on the proposed change. The survey findings would be presented to the board at the May 5 board meeting. If the change is approved by the board, the new zoning would be effective for the 2025-2026 school year, Vierling said.

The next meeting of the board of trustees will be March 31.