AUSTIN, Texas — On Tuesday night, Austin Independent School District (AISD) board members gathered to discuss possible ways to reduce the overall budget deficit the district is seeing.
Last month, the district approved a nearly billion-dollar budget for AISD. With that, and the possibility of a voter-approval tax rate election (VATRE), there would still be around $78 million in deficit.
AISD officials say they also have around $20 million they can save in vacancies, as well as possibly another $35 million over several years that can come from expenditure reductions. With all of this at play, they could get the budget deficit down to $41 million for the 2024-2025 school year and could model for years to come.
Ken Zarifis, president of the Education Austin union, said voting "yes" on this is crucial, as it will also mean raises for staff members.
"If we want a good public school system, we must pay for a good public school system. And I would much rather talk to someone about the few extra dollars they pay in their taxes than to talk to the bus driver, the custodian or the teacher that just lost their job because we didn't pass it," Zarifis said.
AISD Superintendent Matias Segura said even with the VATRE, district leaders will come up with cost-reduction strategies as well to make taxpayers know they have done everything they can to stretch funding. Board members and Segura also made it clear this is an extremely tough decision and will result in cuts they may not necessarily want to make.
"We are going to have to go through a process of cost-reduction strategies … Even with a VATRE, there still has to be a deficit to be considered … where those reductions could be taken," Segura said.
Zarifis said AISD is not seeing help from the state when it comes to funding, so that has left these burdens up to community members directly to help secure funding for public education.
"We seem to have come off a number of legislative sessions that haven't been so great for public education. And so, it's incumbent upon this district in this community to do everything it can to support its schools. Because if we don't, the only thing we have within our power is this tax ratification election," Zarifis said.
This election would add around 9 cents to the current property tax value for residents. This means residents can expect their tax burden to now be around $0.95 per $100 of property value.
When it comes to an actual decision being made about an election, trustees could vote as early as Aug. 8. Ultimately, it would be up to voters to decide on the ballot in November, should the trustees approve this to be taken to a vote.