Bearcat Blast
Aledo ISD 2023-2024 Budget Update
Dear Bearcat parents, guardians and community members:
As our entire staff, administration and Board of Trustees have been preparing to welcome nearly 8,200 Bearcats back for the first day of school this week, we have also been working on finalizing the budget for the 2023-2024 school year. We are blessed to serve in this community and to partner with you to ensure we are #growinggreatness through the programs we offer here and the exceptional experiences our students encounter everyday. We take our responsibilities very seriously and believe we understand the high expectations that our community has for how our children are served in their schools.
As our children return to Aledo schools for the 2023-2024 school year, we wanted to make everyone aware of the impact of recent legislation or failed legislation on our schools, students, and staff and the expected budget shortfalls due to the lack of support from our state Legislature. This is not unique to Aledo ISD as these same effects are being felt by school districts across the state.
Local Property Taxes
In late July, the Governor signed Senate Bill 2 from the second special session that will provide local property tax relief through both an increased homestead exemption and a reduction in the district’s M&O tax rate. We are still waiting for the dust to settle, but we expect a significant tax rate reduction due to this and prior legislation. It is important to note that, as it relates to money for schools, this is merely a shift of the funding obligation from the local taxpayer back to the state and has no material impact on how much money schools receive to operate in total; meaning there is no new money for schools in this bill.
School Funding
As you may be aware, schools are funded primarily on a per-student basis. The amount of money a school district receives (from local and state sources) is determined by formulas provided by the state Legislature. These formulas have not been updated since 2019, even as operations costs required to serve students have increased due to inflation and due to our efforts to increase teacher pay to attract and retain the best teachers possible.
Given the state’s $33 billion surplus, we were hopeful that more funding for public schools would become a reality. In fact, state leadership publicly asserted before the legislative session that their priorities included raises for teachers but, to date, nothing has been done. We are hopeful that in a future special session our legislators will address this; but at this point, we will work under the assumption that our leaders in Austin will not be using their historic surplus to help address this issue. Texas currently ranks #42 in the country in funding per student.
School Safety
In Aledo ISD, we have a long history of making safety a priority as we work daily to keep our students and staff as safe as possible, so we were pleased to see state leadership announce that improving school safety was a priority before the legislative session. We had high hopes that with these improved safety measures would come significant funding. The Legislature did pass a handful of school safety bills with several new requirements for school districts along with a new set of building safety standards that schools must meet. However, the funding supplied was meager at best. Before this legislative session, Aledo ISD received roughly $72,000 from the state’s School Safety Allotment, but our safety and security expenditures are approximately $1 million per year. Due to the new laws in place, Aledo ISD will now receive roughly $228,000 annually, which includes $15,000 per campus to provide a police officer at each school (something AISD committed to doing years ago with the establishment of the Aledo ISD Police Department). You can see that this does offset some of our costs but is not nearly enough to cover neither what we are already committed to doing nor the many new unfunded mandates that were the result of the Texas Legislature’s work this past session.
Aledo ISD 2023-24 Budget Impact
Overall, the effect of this Legislative Session on our operating budget is an increase of approximately $1.1 million – a 1.4% increase compared to our current operating budget – with most of the money allocated to school safety requirements listed above. After it became evident over the last couple of months that the Legislature would not be providing the expected additional funding, we began working with all campuses and departments to decrease their annual operational budgets by 10% while identifying additional savings where possible. Districtwide, we are also implementing some new guidelines for ongoing expenditures. The reduction will not affect staffing or programs, and, with what resources we have, we will continue to prioritize being competitive with compensation in order to attract and retain the best teachers possible. If the Legislature does not increase funding in a future special session - and since the Legislature won’t meet again in a regular session until 2025 - reductions to staffing or programs will be increasingly likely.
Despite this, we want you to know that we remain committed to #GrowingGreatness, creating exceptional experiences, and providing the best education available in our state and country for our students every day. We know that is what you expect for your children and for all the children in our Aledo ISD community, and we have these same high expectations for all of our students in Aledo. The Texas Constitution requires that the state establish and support free public schools in Texas, and we will continue to ardently advocate for our Aledo ISD students, staff and community members.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to any of us if you have any questions. And also please reach out to our legislators to share your thoughts and requests as they represent us in Austin and prepare for the upcoming special session this fall:
Senator Drew Springer: (512) 463-0130; drew.springer@senate.texas.gov
Senator Phil King: (512) 463-0110; phil.king@senate.texas.gov
State Representative Glenn Rogers: (512) 463-0656; glenn.rogers@house.texas.gov
Sincerely,
Aledo ISD Board of Trustees: Forrest Collins, President; Jessica Brown, Vice President; David Lear, Secretary; and Board Members Jennifer Loftin, Jennifer Taylor, Zach Tarrant and Hoyt Harris; and Aledo ISD Superintendent Dr. Susan Bohn
P.S. Don’t forget that funds for bonds like our community passed in May are separate from the funds used to educate our students, pay teacher salaries and operate our facilities. The district’s overall tax rate has decreased nearly 23 cents the last four years, and we anticipate it will decrease an additional 14-16 cents (or nearly 12 percent) this year.
Please find a way to get involved in our schools and district! There are several district committees where parent and community participation is vital. If you are interested in serving on any of the following committees, please complete this form and check the committees where you have an interest to serve. There are time commitments involved in each of these committees and your full participation is very important.
Please complete this interest form by 4 p.m. on Friday, August 25, 2023.
AISD Device Protection Plan
Aledo ISD is offering a Device Protection Plan for all 6th-12th graders who check out a district Chromebook. The plan is optional but highly recommended by Aledo ISD.
For just $25, you can get FULL COVERAGE for your child’s district-issued Chromebook. This includes unlimited breakage incidents as well as theft protection coverage. Please note that this is non-refundable and only applies to the current school year.
Please note that if you decline this coverage you will be responsible for the full cost of any repairs, theft or loss of the Chromebook, including:
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Cost for broken screen - $100
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Cost for theft, loss or intentional damage - $250
If you’re ready to purchase the Device Protection Plan for your student(s), please log in to the district’s InTouch website. Or click here for instructions for using InTouch and purchasing the Device Protection Plan.
Nutrition News!
Check out school menus on the Aledo ISD APP!
Lots of old favorites (Burrito/Nacho Bar) as well as many more new items this year: try them all! MEATBALL SUB—BUFFALO WINGS—CIABATTA PEPPER-JACK MELT—CAPRESE SANDWICH—NEW CHEESE STICKS—CUBANO SANDWICH—GENERAL TSO RICE BOWL—TEXAS PHILLY—AND MORE!!!
More Info:
Aledo Children's AdvoCats is proud to partner with AISD in helping students and families. Because of supporters throughout the district, we have been able to help fulfill unmet needs and aid children and families in Aledo ISD communities since 2002. It is our goal to not only provide basic needs but also provide students with the opportunity to participate in advanced academic courses and pursue post-secondary education.
Through our partnership with Aledo ISD, during the 2022-2023 school year, generous financial contributions and volunteer efforts have enabled us to provide qualified students and families with financial assistance for needs such as medical, dental, and vision expenses, counseling, career, and technical education courses, living expenses, clothing needs, and crisis intervention. Last year, nearly 600 children received $81,000 worth of assistance, 574 children were sponsored through the Angel Project, food cards were given at Thanksgiving and Christmas totalling over $25,000, and $21,000 in scholarships were awarded. We also provided $43,332 worth of clothing through our resale boutique, the Clothes Closet.
Thank you 2023-2024 Bearcat Backers!
Aledo ISD and the Aledo Education Foundation are partnering once again for the Bearcat Backer program, and we'd love your support!
As our district is #GrowingGreatness through exceptional experiences that empower learners for life, we are committed to fostering relationships and partnerships with our outstanding businesses and organizations to help support our Bearcats. Your partnership provides a direct investment and benefit to our Bearcat students and staff.
If your business is interested in joining our Bearcat Backers program, please visit our Bearcat Backers webpage that includes sponsorship levels as well as a commitment form to fill out.
Thank you to our 2023-2024 Bearcat Backers!
Aledo Independent School District
The Bearcat Blast E-Newletter is managed by the Aledo ISD Communications Department. To submit news items, email communications@aledoisd.org.
https://www.aledoisd.org/
1008 Bailey Ranch Road, Aledo, TX • Phone: 817-441-8327
Facebook: facebook.com/AledoISD • Twitter: @AledoISD