Opening Williams Elementary added about $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 Thursday.
Brown spoke at the district's October Coffee & Conversation, held Oct. 8 in the Partin Elementary library, where the topic was school finance. The district posted a recap the same day.
Growth and its price
Enrollment has climbed from about 1,800 students to roughly 3,000 in six years, Brown said, which means more teachers, classrooms, buses and instructional materials. He said the district is committed to keeping class sizes manageable, and that a new campus brings its operating costs right away while the added enrollment that helps pay for it builds over time.
He offered one example of rising costs: a school bus the district could buy for about $100,000 in 2019 is priced near $190,000 today.
Two pots of money
Brown walked through the difference between the district's maintenance and operations budget, which covers salaries, supplies, utilities, transportation and routine repairs, and its interest and sinking fund, which repays voter-approved bonds.
Bond money cannot be moved to cover day-to-day expenses or raises for teachers, he said, and voter approval of a bond project does not mean it can start at once, since timing depends on need and the district's ability to repay.
He also said higher local tax collections do not automatically mean more operating revenue, because the state's funding formulas take those collections into account, and he discussed recapture, under which the district sends part of its local revenue to the state.
Because funding is tied to attendance while staffing and utility costs are not, he urged families to send students to school when they are healthy.
