San Felipe-Del Rio CISD approves 2026–27 budget package; no general pay increase

SAN FELIPE-DEL RIO CISD trustees approved the district's 2026'27 budget package during a June 29 public hearing and special meeting, administration said.

During the required public hearing, district administration presented budget compliance and revenue projections, including preliminary 2026 taxable values and an unchanged proposed maintenance-and-operations tax rate of 74.86 cents per $100 of taxable value, according to the presentation by budget staff (identified in the transcript as Miss Childress). The district forecast enrollment of 9,450 students and an average daily attendance (ADA) of 8,377 for budget calculations.

Administration described the executive budget components: the general fund (the district's primary operating fund), the food-service fund and the debt-service fund. As presented, the general-fund executive figures in the packet showed revenues and expenditures each listed at $17,720,616, while the food-service and debt-service funds were shown with the balances the packet provided. Administration also presented a total executive-budgets figure in the packet labeled as total revenues of $121,820,845 and total expenditures of $121,727,625; these figures were read aloud during the presentation.

The board was also told the budget, as presented, includes no districtwide general pay increase for 2026'27; beginning teacher pay was stated in the presentation as $55,900 and the district will pay required state-mandated adjustments under House Bill 2 (described in the meeting material and by administration as a $2,500 or $5,000 step tied to years of experience). Administration said personnel savings of $970,875 result from position deletions and reorganizations, and listed several operating reductions (including a reduction of campus library funding from $6 to $3 per student). Health-insurance contributions were described in the presentation as remaining at the monthly district contribution shown in the packet ($51,957 for the July 1–Dec. 31, 2026 period, as presented).

As part of the budget actions, trustees unanimously approved the 2026'27 district official budget, a 2025'26 final amended budget and a resolution to commit portions of estimated excess fund balance for carryforward and new projects. Administration identified $5,960,412 in proposed commitments to roll forward or newly commit for 2026'27; the list read into the record included a gym renovation, HVAC and roof repairs, a maintenance tractor carryforward, Skyward migration costs, an insurance contribution, a return-to-work stipend, a middle-school weight-room air conditioner, and a $1.6 million high-school softball field project.

Board members asked questions about the enrollment forecast and the calculation supporting the 100-student decline used in the projection; administration said it based the projection on daily enrollment patterns and recent year-to-year changes and called the 9,450 projection conservative to protect the budget.

The board voted unanimously on the budget package and related amendments. Administration noted the district received a wind-farm state-aid payment referenced during the presentation and included in fund-balance calculations.

The meeting then proceeded to other agenda items.