School Board Places Freeze On Hiring

In approving the 2008-2009 district budget, the Van Independent School District Board of Trustees, upon the recommendation of Van ISD Superintendent Joddie Witte, placed a freeze on hiring.

Witte said that inflation cost coupled with no new state revenue has created deficit school budgets in many school districts statewide. He said that in the past three years, the district budget for fuel has increased from $60,000 to over $280,000 per year.

"The increase in the fuel budget for district buses is equivalent to almost five cents on the district maintenance and operation tax rate which is at the state maximum tax rate of $1.04," said Witte.

"We are experiencing fixed cost increases in every area of the district’s operational cost budget including food service, custodial supplies, supplies for teachers, utilities, school maintenance and transportation and insurance," said Witte.

Witte said that about 80 percent of a district’s budget is related to personnel and benefits. The freeze on hiring becomes necessary to stop the run-away cost for operation of the school district.

"New properties on the district’s tax roll have increased the total taxes received by $800,000. The frustrating part of our state and local revenue is that the current state school funding law reduces the state revenue by the same amount ($800,000). The bottom line is we receive no additional revenue to offset fixed cost increases in the operational cost of our school district," said Witte.

"This is the most frustrating situation for board members and school district administrators that has ever happened in my career in school administration. As some may remember, three years ago, we reduced our budget by $1.2 million which included cutting 26 positions. As painful as that experience was, this situation is now worse," said Witte.

Witte said that there is some good news. School funding hold harmless law does not apply on the debt side (I&S) of the tax rate. This means that any additional revenue received on the debt side of the tax rate can be applied to debt payments.

"As a result, state funding for district bond issues are much better. Currently state funding revenue for debt service pays about 40 percent of the annual debt payment for Van ISD. Four years ago, state revenue paid about 50 percent of the debt payment," said Witte.

Witte said that this area needs to be addressed by the next legislative session as well as the operational cost for school districts.

Witte said that records show that in the 2007-2008 school year, 12 of the nineteen metropolitan school districts in the state had a deficit budget which will compound in 2008-2009. Also, 135 school districts had a 13 ratification election, about 79 percent of the ratification elections in the state passed.

He said that hundreds of school districts in the state are now considering this option including Van ISD. He said that the impact of the 13 cent increase on the average price home ($96,000) in Van is about $80 per year or $6.67 per month.

"Van ISD has a twenty percent local homestead exemption which is a significant financial benefit for Van ISD homeowners," said Witte.

Witte said that only about 20 percent of the 1,031 school districts in the state have this benefit. This benefit results in a $20,000 tax exemption on a $100,000 home for Van homeowners.

"We will have to tighten our belts even tighter than we have in the past and we will need to be more creative so that we do not dismantle our excellent school district. This past year Van students performed at a very high level and we have an obligation to continue to provide our students with a quality education," said Witte.

"The heartbeat of our school district is the teachers and support personnel. That has to be in the forefront in trying to overcome our dilemma and to provide our students with an education that will allow them to be competitive in the world of work," said Witte.