Proposed Spring Branch ISD budget raises salaries, borrows from fund balance Spending plan, which falls short on revenues, topic of June 22 meeting

Spring Branch Independent School District board of trustees will hold the second of two public hearings about the budget for the 2015-16 school year at an upcoming board meeting, after which there will be a vote to adopt the budget.

The proposed budget includes an average 3 percent pay increase for all 4,623 employees, not including substitutes or temporary employees, pays about $700,000 for the addition of 13 prekindergarten aides, keeps the property-tax rate steady but comes up almost $10 million short on revenues.

Under the preliminary budget, expenditures total $286.5 million, of which almost $247 million will go toward payroll. The pay increase will cost $5.7 million.

Another $39 million will go toward contracted services, while $307,011 will cover the debt service and $215,100 will be used for capital expenses.

Overall, expenditures are up by $8.4 million on the current year. Other additional expenses include the establishment of teacher fellowships and the expansion of the SKY Program to high school.

The fellowships are designed to provide professional development and attract teachers to the district to support the T-2-4 plan, an ambitious goal to double the number of students within a five-year period completing two or four-year college, technical training or a stint in the military.

Launched in 2012, the SKY Partnership is an initiative between SBISD, Kipp Houston Public Schools and YES Prep Public Schools to expand opportunities for middle and high school students. KIPP Courage was established at Landrum Middle School, and Yes Prep Northbrook was established at Northbrook Middle School. Those students can now continue at the new program at Northbrook High School starting in August.

Total revenues stand at $276.5 million. Some $277.4 million will come from property taxes, $14 million will come from the state and $21.5 million from other sources.

However, $36.3 million will go back to the state under the state's funding system, which district administrators have called unsustainable.

State funding for Spring Branch has decreased over recent years as property-tax revenues have increased, and this year is no exception.

The total taxable value in Spring Branch ISD is estimated to be $27,567,771,496 for next school year. That compares to last year's $24,354,576,875.

Though property-tax revenues are projected to jump by 13.2 percent, according to the Harris County Appraisal District, the state will take a bigger cut under what is called recapture. Recapture comes into play if the wealth per student goes above a certain threshold.

Karen Wilson, associate superintendent for finance, said the taxable values are particularly high this year.

"But they don't go up forever," she said. "They go in cycles."

To close the budget deficit, Wilson said the district will dip into the fund balance, funds set aside for cash-flow purposes and unexpected expenditures. However, she said as the 2015-16 school year progresses, the deficit should come down.

The ending fund balance under the preliminary budget is projected to be around $44 million.

The property tax rate will remain at $1.3945 per $100 valuation, $1.09 of which is for maintenance and operations and .3045 for debt service.

The first public hearing about the budget was held May 18. No one commented.

The second budget hearing and board meeting is at 6:30 p.m. June 22 at the Wayne F. Schaper, Sr. Leadership Center, 955 Campbell Road.

The board is expected to adopt the tax rate in September. Visit www.springbranch.com for details.