Failed legislation, poor attendance affect school budgets

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Attendance numbers have dropped for schools across the Valley coming out of the pandemic.

Students are getting less class time and districts are getting less money due to school funding being tied to attendance and not the number of students registered.

Brownsville Independent School District Superintendent Jesus Chavez said small changes can make a big difference.

"One percent of attendance higher, literally gives us over a million dollars," said Chavez.

Before COVID-19, BISD attendance was somewhere around 95 percent. Today, those numbers are typically down by 7 or 8 percent fewer students.

Even when attendance numbers are high, for the last few years the money hasn't been there.

“One of the things that all districts across the state are struggling with is balancing their budget with no additional funds from the state," said Chavez. "And let me repeat that, no additional funds from the state.”

During the last legislative session, over $4 billion was approved for school funding. Legislation authorizing that money to be distributed was part of the school vouchers bill pushed by Governor Greg Abbott.

That bill failed to pass and the state is still holding on to those funds.

“Hence, we haven’t received an increase in the basic element of school funding, which is our basic allotment, in four years," said Chavez.

The Superintendent also said that because of inflation, those education dollars don't go as far as they used to. The district is looking to trim more than $20 million from next year's budget.

BISD will have to use some of the reserves it has built up in the fund balance.

“We would be able to do better by our students with better attendance because there would be more dollars to invest in education," said Chavez.

BISD said there is money to take from the fund balance for the next year or two, but it isn't a long-term solution. For the district, every day a student misses school, it loses thousands of dollars.

The district is planning an informational program to educate students and parents about the importance of attendance.

Chavez suggested small ways to increase attendance numbers such as scheduling medical appointments later in the day so students can attend class.