Expenditures for the next year in the Austin Independent School District will be going up. The school board on Thursday approved a $1.89-billion budget, which includes raises for teachers and other staff members, as well as the largest recapture payment of any school district in the state.
A breakdown of the district’s spending is as follows:
- $1.68 billion from the General Fund;
- $42.1 million from the Food Services Fund;
- $174.4 million to pay down debt;
- Appropriation of approximately $26.1 million from General Fund’s Fund Balance, excluding ESSER.
Since 1993, Texas has used a system for school finance known as recapture. Also known informally as “Robin Hood,” it involves local tax dollars being taken away from “property wealthy” districts and being distributed to other school districts in the state deemed to be more in need. For Austin ISD, next year’s recapture payment will be $846-million — roughly half of dollars paid in by local taxpayers.
“We did our best to balance our budget by cutting deeply with our expenditures and how we operate,” said Chief Financial Officer Edward Ramos. “When you look at our total budget, it looks like we’re actually spending more because of recapture.”
That recapture payment is more than the next three highest-paying districts combined, which include Houston ISD, Plano ISD, and Midland ISD.
The new budget includes 2% midpoint raises for teachers, $1000 base pay increase, and raises for bus drivers and other staff.
This is the first balanced budget in the Austin Independent School District since 2017.
