Opening Williams Elementary added roughly $3.66 million a year to Van Alstyne ISD's operating costs and was a major reason the district adopted a deficit budget this year, Superintendent Dr. David Brown told residents at his October Coffee & Conversation.
The Oct. 8 session in the Partin Elementary library centered on school finance. The district posted a written recap of the discussion on its website.
Growth and its price tag
Brown said enrollment has climbed from about 1,800 students to about 3,000 over the past six years, which means more staff, classrooms, buses and instructional materials. He said the district wants to keep class sizes manageable, and that the new campus was part of that effort.
A new school brings its full operating bill right away, he explained, while the added enrollment that helps pay for it builds over time.
To illustrate how costs have moved, Brown said a school bus that ran about $100,000 in 2019 now costs about $190,000.
Two pots of money
Brown described the budget as two separate funds. Maintenance and operations money covers salaries, supplies, utilities, transportation and routine repairs. Interest and sinking money repays bonds that voters approved.
According to the recap, he stressed that bond dollars cannot be shifted to daily expenses or teacher raises, and that voter approval of a project does not mean it can start right away, since timing depends on facility needs and the district's ability to repay debt.
He also said higher local tax collections do not automatically mean more operating revenue, because the state formula accounts for those collections, and he discussed recapture, under which the district sends part of its local revenue to the state.
Because attendance drives funding while costs such as staffing and utilities do not change day to day, he urged families to send healthy students to school consistently.
