Dear Lovejoy Community,
This school year and especially this spring semester has been challenging. The superintendent departed in late February. In early March, the Governor lifted the facemask executive order causing some division in our community. During this same time, the Administration and Board were developing the budget for the 2021-2022 school year, while maintaining exemplary academic, fine arts and athletic experiences, keeping students and staff healthy, and working to get our employees vaccinated.
The State funds school districts to provide a basic education, but we offer an enhanced educational experience for our students in Lovejoy. The educational enhancements we provide make Lovejoy unique and are a catalyst for the District's superior academic performance. We know precisely what these enhancements are, as well as the corresponding costs. How do we maintain the enriched academic and extracurricular experiences for our students, yet remain competitive in attracting and retaining talented educators with a basic level of funding? This question summarizes our annual budget development challenge.
The magnitude of the delta between expenditures to continue our offerings and the available revenue for the 2021-2022 fiscal year is extreme because our enrollment has declined. For the 2020-2021 school year, the District staffed for the projected enrollment of ~ 4,400 students, but only had ~ 4,200 students enroll. The District must address the staffing inefficiencies which are primarily at the elementary level. Our elementary program’s current enrollment and demographic projection show a continual decline in K-4 enrollment over the next 10 years. Funding for public schools in Texas is driven by the number of students enrolled and attending school daily. Combined with this enrollment decline, legislation has continued to limit our funding based on our minimal population of economically disadvantaged students. We no longer receive fast-growth state funding and our local revenue sources are depressed due to COVID-related issues.
On March 12, 2021, two bills were filed in the Texas legislature to repeal the district’s ability to charge transfer students tuition (~ $1M budget impact). The potential loss of tuition revenue also elevated the need to make deeper budget cuts and significantly limits the District’s anticipated revenue increase from expanding the tuition program which had been a large part of our budget development.
The District has a compressed timeframe in which we are required to notify contract employees of a change in their contract for the 2021-2022 school year. The required timeline by the State of Texas to renew or non-renew contracts occurs before the School Board actually adopts the official budget. With more than 85% of the budget tied to personnel, it leaves little flexibility to modify the budget after contracts are issued.
Understandably so, the students and their families participating in each of our enhanced programs believe their program is the most important program the District offers. The District understands the value of each enhancement to the student experience. The administration has spent endless hours evaluating and presenting options for the consideration of the seven elected community members (School Board). Our elected School Board representatives invest a great deal of time studying and navigating the nuances of Texas education finance law, procurement law, employment law, academic programs, etc., and stand ready and are tasked with making tough decisions. To put it simply, because we are funded at a basic education level, for a basic education program, the district has to either reduce the program enhancements we provide, or implement a combination of right-sizing our staffing inefficiencies and allowing for limited application transfer students to increase enrollment and generate increased state funding. While none of these options are desirable or build consensus throughout our community, our elected School Board members must make difficult decisions in the best interest of our students, staff, and community for not only our current Leopards but for the generations of Leopards to come.
With Respect,
Dr. Dennis Womack
Interim Superintendent
Lovejoy ISD
Click here to view the Budget Development Website.
