Lubbock ISD Adopts An $8.6 Million Dollar Budget Deficit

The Lubbock Independent School District is following a trend set by many other school districts around Texas for the upcoming school year. Adopting a budget that puts the district in a deficit.

Lubbock ISD in a press release said that there were three key factors that influenced the budget. The district said enrollment numbers continue to decline. Lubbock ISD has also seen their attendance rate fall. When it comes to funding from the state, public school funding is based on student attendance.

The drop in enrollment and attendance is another trend across Texas.

Lubbock ISD also blamed the economy including inflation, utility rate hikes, rising insurance, and employment competition outside of education as factors impacting the budget. The third big factor impacting the budget according to Lubbock ISD is the Texas Legislature not "substantially" updating the funding formula.

Despite the deficit of $8.6 million dollars, Lubbock ISD including in the budget a 2% raise for teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses, and campus/district administration. There is a 6% raise for aides, police officers, and paraprofessionals according to the press release.

The adopted budget includes:

• $234 million in revenue

• $242 million in spending

• An $8.6 million deficit, or 3.5% of the budget

The following moves were made to save costs in the budget.

• $4 million in staffing efficiencies through attrition and reorganization. Full-time teaching positions have been eliminated to account for enrollment decline and increased class sizes. At the Central Office level, positions have been eliminated and job functions distributed to existing roles as appropriate.

• $1 million in decreased deferred maintenance.

• $4 million in student technology taken out of ESSER funds for one last time.

As I wrote earlier, Lubbock ISD isn't alone in adopting a budget deficit. CBS Austin reports that Austin ISD is facing a $78 million dollar deficit.