Pflugerville ISD revenues fall short, TAKS scores increase

Pflugerville ISD revenues fall short, TAKS scores increase

By Rob Heidrick Friday, 03 July 2009

Fewer new students will enter Pflugerville ISD schools this fall than recent studies projected, and administrators said the decrease will affect the district’s 2009-2010 budget. As a result, the completed Jose Riojas Elementary School, which was scheduled to open this year, will not open until August 2010.

State education funding is based largely on the number of students in each district, and when enrollment numbers fall short, districts take in less revenue that could be used to hire staff, expand programs or invest in new technology.

“The good news is that our schools are not bursting at the seams as we expected they could be,” PISD Superintendent Charles Dupre said. “The bad news is it’s having a detrimental impact on the bottom line of our budget.”

Administrators are adopting measures to make up for decreased revenue projections. Dupre said that by not opening Riojas Elementary, PISD will save between $750,000 and $1 million in staff and operating costs.

The district also scaled back the number of counselors on middle school campuses and reassigned nine technology instructors for the coming year due to budget constraints. Some staff positions will remain unfilled and spending on travel and summer school programs will be reduced.

Dupre and other administrators said that despite the unanticipated dip in projected growth, the district’s recently reconfigured curriculum and other factors have led to increases in academic performance.

Growth affects funding

Enrollment in Pflugerville schools increased dramatically as the city’s population expanded over the last decade, and the district’s forecast assumed growth would continue at a similar rate. Dupre said the nationwide economic downturn that began last year put an unexpected damper on enrollment because fewer families have been able to move to the area.

A 2007 PISD study predicted that 1,714 new students would enroll in district schools for the 2009-2010 academic year. A similar assessment in 2008 adjusted the forecast to 1,120 new students, and a review in February projected an increase of fewer than 600 students.

Based on the new projection, PISD expects 20,850 students to enroll this fall.

“We have to focus on what the recent history has been, since student [enrollments] really aren’t growing at the same rate they were two to three years ago,” said Kenneth Adix, executive director of business services at PISD, in a presentation to the school board June 15.

The district receives state funds each month based on current data, and Adix said the adjusted student counts have affected the budget gradually. The 2009-2010 budget must be completed by Aug. 31, and a public hearing will be held Aug. 20.

‘Deal with the fallout’

The PISD Board of Trustees raised questions in June about whether the state’s target revenue system, which grants PISD $4,887 per student based on a weighted average, puts Pflugerville at a disadvantage in comparison to nearby districts. Leander ISD receives $5,565 per weighted student in state funds, and Round Rock ISD gets $5,604 per student.

In 2006 the state legislature created a system that set target revenues for each district based on “snapshots” of their 2005-2006 finances, said Leo Lopez, a manager in the state funding division of the Texas Education Agency. District revenue varies according to factors such as tax rates and property values in each area.

Round Rock ISD, for example, contains more commercial development and higher taxable value than PISD, which likely played a role in RRISD having more revenue per student in 2005, Lopez said. Even if the financial gap between the districts has shrunk since then, targets are still tied to that year’s snapshot.

“Everyone [other school districts] around us gets more, and when you multiply by 20,000 students, that’s a lot of net revenue that would be very helpful for us in our budgeting,” board member Vernagene Mott said.

Revenue is strained even further when student counts do not meet projections, she said.

School board members worked with state lawmakers this year in hopes of updating the system to reflect financial needs that have emerged since targets were first set. Legislators made minor adjustments to increase teacher pay, but did not overhaul target revenues. Districts will operate on the system for at least two more years.

PISD Board of Trustees Vice President Elva Gladney said at the June 15 meeting that enrollment growth by itself would not bring in sufficient funding for the district unless its target revenue was also increased. She added that the Senate Finance Committee had assured the district it would increase its target to $5,000 per student, but no such change was made.

“That would have helped us,” she said. “It would have made a difference. Not living up to that promise was hurtful.”

Dupre said much of the new money PISD received from the legislature this year was earmarked for teacher salary increases, and if additional funding had been provided without restriction, the district would have had more flexibility to spend it on benefits, equipment, raises for non-teaching staff and other district priorities.

Board member Cynthia Graves said she had hoped lawmakers would be more receptive to input from each district.

“They do this at the last minute at the very end of our budget process, and nobody knows what’s going on,” she said. “Then we have to deal with the fallout.”

‘The front line’

Dupre said PISD is still hiring teachers, although the projected revenue shortfall limits the number of positions that can be created. Overcrowding has not become a problem, he said, but student-to-teacher ratios have crept higher in recent years.

“We shoot for anywhere between 25 and 30 [students per teacher in high schools],” Dupre said. “Most teachers will tell you that when they get to 28 — and higher, in some classes — that’s kind of a tipping point.”

Pflugerville High School Principal Kirk Wrinkle said hiring slowdowns have made it challenging to manage a higher number of students.

“Principals always want more teachers because that’s the front line,” he said. “We haven’t noticed there’s a drop off [in new enrollment] … If we can’t hire additional teachers, it will affect us in the classroom.”

Scores increase

PISD implemented a new curriculum last fall, and student performance appears to be on the rise. PISD Chief Academic Officer Keith McBurnett said the updated lesson plans provide more continuity as students progress from grade to grade.

Under the new program, teachers instruct students in three-week “bundles” tailored to improve performance on state academic guidelines collectively known as Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, leading up to the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. The TAKS is a standardized test used as a primary measure of a school’s overall academic performance.

Recent changes to the state’s academic accountability policy make the exam less crucial in determining whether students can be promoted to the next grade and gave districts more flexibility in evaluating student progress. Depending on test scores, schools can be rated as academically unacceptable, acceptable, recognized or exemplary.

Preliminary TAKS scores this year show increases in 22 of the test’s 25 performance indicators, and McBurnett said PISD could see a doubling in its number of recognized and exemplary campuses. Results will be finalized in early August.

“Not only do we see students achieving at a higher level than they ever have before, but the gap between the highest-performing students and the lowest-performing students is closing in Pflugerville,” McBurnett said.

School district cuts costs from budget

• Opening of Riojas Elementary postponed to August 2010
• 9 campus instructional technology staff members reassigned to other positions
• 2 counselors assigned to each middle school, rather than 3
• Administrative positions left unfilled: assistant superintendent for community relations and partnerships, assistant superintendent for instruction, executive director of high school and human resource recruiter
• Pay raises likely for teachers only
• Travel reduced at campus and district level
• Summer school redesigned to be more cost effective

Source: Pflugerville ISD

Pflugerville ISD receives less state money per student

Pflugerville ISD will receive $4,887 in state funds for each student it enrolls this year, based on a weighted average. This figure, called a target revenue, varies between districts and is the main source of state education funding. PISD school board members are lobbying lawmakers to increase the district’s target to reflect the city’s growth in the four years since the rates were first set.

Source: Texas Education Agency

Growth falls short of expectations

In its last two annual reports, Pflugerville ISD has lowered its estimate of new students enrolling for the 2009-2010 academic year.