Just call the 2019-20 budget process for Hermleigh ISD the “Great Unknown” for now.
During Tuesday’s Hermleigh ISD board of trustees meeting, Superintendent Cassie Petty updated the board on the district’s progress toward crafting a new budget, but added that several roadblocks are delaying the process.
District officials are dealing with a number of uncertainties as they work toward building a new budget for the school and most of those concerns center around not knowing exactly how state-mandated finance reform will be administered and what the district’s tax base will be in the coming fiscal year.
The district’s tax valuations have been volatile the past few years, which makes estimating budget numbers next to impossible, Petty said. The district’s valuations have jumped 10 percent and 20 percent, respectively, the past two years.
That volatility also makes it difficult for the district to estimate how much it will receive in state aid this coming fiscal year, officials said.
As things stand now, Hermleigh would qualify for a $1 million “transition grant” from the state that is designed to assist districts adversely affected by recently adopted tax reform measures handed down by the Texas Legislature, and that grant money is greatly needed, Petty said.
“Without the grant, we’ll be $1 million short of what we normally build a budget around,” Petty said. “It would help our budget tremendously.”
If, however, the district’s valuations jump as dramatically as they have in recent years, Hermleigh may not qualify for the grant, she said.
Even if the district receives the grant, there’s a catch.
Petty said the increased aid via the grant would mean that the district may have to comply with a state mandate ordering most school districts to earmark 30 percent of aid toward raises for district personnel.
And all those possibilities depend on the new valuations that will be announced by July 25.
“Until we know what our certified values are, we can’t put definite numbers on anything,” she said. “Most school districts’ valuations are fairly stable from one year to the next, so they can estimate with some certainty what they’ll get, but ours have fluctuated a great deal the last few years.”
Hermleigh trustees will hold two meetings in August to hammer out details of the new budget, which is expected to be approved the final week of August.
In other business Tuesday, the board approved the student code of conduct for the coming school year. The biggest change is that cell phones will no longer be allowed in classrooms or hallways. In past years, it was up to the teacher whether cell phones would be allowed in the classroom.
“It just proved to be too much of a distraction,” Principal Amber Palmer said. “We’d just rather not have them in the classroom.”
Trustees also approved new cafeteria meal prices for the new school year. Breakfast will be free for students and $2 for adults and other visitors, while lunch will be $2.50 for elementary students, $3 for secondary students, $3.75 for adults and $4 for visitors.
In other business, the school board approved the employee handbook and a localized board policy manual update.
Trustees also emerged from a 40-minute closed session and voted to hire Blythe Hopper as a teacher-coach.
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