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School budget increased, but tight 
WATCH YOUR SPEED: A Taylor Police Department cruiser sits in front of Taylor High School along side a speed monitor to help drivers gauge their speed as they go through a 35 mph school zone on Main Street. Following action by the city council Tuesday, the speed limit will be dropping in front of the school. The new school zone speed will be 30 mph.
photo by PHILIP JANKOWSKI
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By Jason Schaefer The Taylor ISD Board of Trustees approved a total budget of $25,632,973 Monday, an increase of more than $135,000 from last year’s budget. Still, the property tax rate will remain static at $1.20 per $100 of appraised property value, the same as last year, but the district expects an increase of more than $105,000 in revenue. The revenue increase is attributed to higher property values and a projected increase in Average Daily Attendance (ADA), for which the district earns $4,669 per student in state funding. The district expects a 2 percent increase in enrollment, which can be a “double-edged sword,” according to Bill Mikulencak, TISD business manager. If too many kids join the school district, the school board would be required to hire more teachers. State law sets the number of students per classroom at 23 for Pre-K through fourth grade. The district needs at least 10 students to cover the cost of a new teacher, Superintendent Bruce Scott said. Fewer than that, and the districts spends more money than the state pays. The district must also cope with increased expenses this year, including a raise for all district employees and higher fuel costs. The 3 percent employee raise will cost the district $453,000, and the rising price of diesel fuel to run buses will take an additional $86,000 from the budget. In addition, this year Hutto ISD exited the East Williamson County Co-op, a special education program for which TISD is now primarily responsible. The district will contribute $51,830 more to keep the co-op running. To offset higher expenditures, TISD has frozen approximately 10 positions throughout the district — mostly instructional assistants. According to Scott, these are people who have resigned or moved into teaching positions. The district will keep the empty positions, but will not fill them. The adopted budget shows a surplus of $1,617. The school budget this year is tight, and may be tighter in coming years with the increase in fuel and energy costs and no increase in state funding, according to Scott. The budget reflects a percentage spent on instruction that is lower than the target set by the Texas Education Agency. The TEA recommends that 65 percent of the total budget be spent on instruction, and TISD plans to spend 62.62 percent. As long as any district passes a resolution showing its awareness of this shortfall, which the TISD board did Monday, there are no direct adverse consequences. However, no district may earn an exemplary rating without first committing 65 percent of their funds to instruction, according to Scott. In the future, the district will consider moving funds from other budget areas meeting TEA recommendations into instruction funds. For example, TISD keeps a registered nurse at every campus, which it is not required by state law to do. Registered nurses fall under the student support category, which exceeds the TEA target percentage by 1.29 percent. “We choose to have RNs at every campus,” Scott said. “A lot of school districts don’t do that. They either hire LVNs with a smaller salary, or one RN for every two campuses. That’s a school board decision, and I think it’s a good decision.”
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