As San Antonio area school districts wrap up complex budget processes this summer, officials are having to slash programs and reduce positions to maintain operating costs and provide small raises to compete for a limited number of staff.
Cratering student enrollment, low attendance and the end of federal pandemic relief funding have created a perfect storm, with inflation and stagnant state funding driving a nail into the coffin of some schools’ programs and initiatives.
One program that is coming to an end, at least for now, is the Alamo City Band Camp, which had brought musicians together from across the San Antonio Independent School District for more than a decade.
“I just want to make sure that everybody in the public understands that we are in a dire financial situation, and we find ourselves here because Austin has put us here,” San Antonio Independent School District Superintendent Jaime Aquino said during a recent board meeting.
“I hear from families and staff and from the board ‘don’t cut programs and services’ – We have to cut programs and services. There’s no other way unless Austin does something differently,” he added.
As cuts have been made, districts are looking to insulate the classroom, or what Aquino calls “the core.”
But even after slashing millions of dollars from the central office, suspending most summer programs and eliminating less popular electives, SAISD finds itself in a precarious situation.
“We are struggling even to offer the most basic services because we’re put in this position,” Aquino said.
SAISD is one of the few districts to avoid adopting a deficit budget this year, by backfilling a would-be deficit with funds from The Strategic Initiatives Fund, local reserves outside of its general fund.
Dollars on the table
Billions of dollars set aside for education have yet to be distributed by state lawmakers, with the Republican majority withholding funding after the governor’s directive to couple it with a proposed law allowing tax dollars to be spent on private schooling failed to pass in the last regular and special sessions.
As the reality of lagging school funding comes into focus, one lawmaker is calling for action before the next scheduled session in 2025.
Outgoing state Rep. Steve Allison penned a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott last week calling for another special session focused on education to address the bloodletting, echoing that call in an interview June 27 with the San Antonio Report.
“The additional money is there and I think the consensus is there to do it, but [Abbott] unfortunately tied it, and held it hostage to his private school voucher plan which is totally separate,” he said.
Supporters of Abbott and his voucher plan, including the Texas Public Policy Foundation, quickly pushed back, arguing that unnecessary spending, not a lack of funding are to blame for the current budget issues facing districts.
“Texas taxpayers have dutifully invested billions of new taxpayer dollars in public schools with the hopes that this would improve educational outcomes,” Mandy Drogin, the director of the think tank’s Next Generation Texas initiative said in a statement. “Yet, too many school districts have betrayed the trust of taxpayers and parents by choosing to fund extravagant new facilities, lobbyists, administrators, and other frivolous expenses instead of investing in teachers and instructional opportunities that benefit our children.”
A broken tradition
While districts grapple with impossible financial trade-offs, the students and families participating in the programs at stake are left wondering what will happen next.
Parents were shocked, and students were disappointed in the final weeks of school to learn that the long running Alamo City Band Camp, which had become a tradition in some families, would not occur this year.
Trustees, including Ed Garza, expressed frustration with not being told the details of the cuts leading up to a meeting where they finalized a $500 million budget.
Laura Short, a spokeswoman for the district, said all summer programs except for credit recovery, those required by law and those with outside partners, were being put on hold so the district could focus on campus consolidation and bond construction.
The program has been instrumental for thousands of young students over the years, like Annabelle Martinez, who found her footing at the camp when she was in seventh grade and recently completed an International Baccalaureate project on the importance of the fine arts inspired by her experiences there.
“I was thinking that I hope more people can see fine arts as a part of education, like sports and other extracurricular activities,” she said.
So when she learned that the band camp was ending, she was disappointed.
Martinez’s younger brother, Alex, was inspired by her experience and looked forward to his own time at the camp this summer, readying to practice clarinet, trumpet and saxophone.
“Me and some of my best friends were going to go,” Alex said.
Alex said when he learned the camp was being cut, it was “a bummer,” adding that his friends were angry.
While the cuts this year stung, Aquino hinted at much more drastic cuts should help not come. Job reductions are one scenario, along with the possibility of non-financial incentives to compete for staff — such as a four-day work week.
Districts across San Antonio are already eliminating unfilled positions to reduce costs for the coming year.
The North East Independent School District, for example, is eliminating 140 unfilled campus-level positions and 16 unfilled central office positions, totaling over $13 million in savings. The district still adopted a deficit budget.
The Edgewood Independent School District, which faces continued enrollment declines, is also counting on savings of about $430,000 as a result of central office positions being eliminated.
Edgewood is also projecting $3.76 million in savings associated with the closure of two schools, according to a recent district presentation.
Other districts are still working through potential cuts.
Officials with the Southside Independent School District, a small but quickly growing district, promised board members during a June meeting that they would soon be presenting a balanced budget – adding that several positions would have to be “absorbed” and other expenditures cut to achieve that.
Details on which positions and expenditures face cuts were not shared, however.
Drop-out recovery saved
Third-party programs that serve students on campuses have also been scrutinized as school boards and finance departments search for ways to save money moving into next year.
Communities in Schools, a nonprofit drop-out prevention program in 13 districts and embedded in 160 schools, had serious conversations about funding constraints at all partner districts in recent months, according to Jessica Weaver, the President and CEO of Communities In Schools San Antonio.
“It has been a conversation across all my districts and understanding their budget challenges,” Weaver said. “Our goal is to find out what we are able to maintain.”
The nonprofit is funded by a combination of state, county and foundation dollars and seeks to match payments made by school districts who utilize their services, which include counseling and social workers.
As of the end of June, the program was ultimately cut from only one district, South San Antonio ISD, which is taking drastic measures to reign in a deficit under the advice of a state-appointed conservator. Social workers on campus will step in to fill those roles, according to district staff.
“It’s a different approach, because our staff are embedded in a school all day, every day, and our goal is to provide easier access and immediate access to supports by being positioned there,” Weaver said, adding that the capacity of the district has increased since the organization first partnered with them years ago.
“At least, they feel like they have some support to continue to provide that to their students, versus when we were there at some point where they didn’t have any of that capacity,” she added.
Judson ISD also considered ending its relationship with CIS but backtracked after the district found a more targeted and affordable arrangement at fewer schools.
Staff displaced as a result of the changes will be retained and used elsewhere, according to Weaver. But despite the difficult conversations, there has been a commitment to the goals of the nonprofit.
“We all have the mental wellness and social emotional wellness of our kids as a priority,” she said.
Next session too late
CIS is another organization that received no additional funding in the last legislative session, and what happens after the next year becomes less clear without a change.
Allison, who said he will continue to push for a special session, said that waiting until January to solve the funding issue for districts could be too late for the programs and job positions facing cuts right now.
“If that can go forward next session, so be it, but it is not going to be implemented for another school year anyway even if it should pass,” he said. “In the meantime, the schools are hurting and I think we can provide that additional funding right now.”
Allison, who was defeated in a March primary by a candidate backed by Abbott, added that deficits being adopted now will compound in the coming years.
Julia Grizzard, the Executive Director of the Bexar County Education Coalition, echoed that, adding that some programs and positions never returned after cuts made to local districts due to funding cuts in 2011.
“The kinds of damage that our schools are experiencing right now, I think are only fixed by a sizable investment at this stage to ensure we are at least even with where we were in 2018,” she said. “And I don’t think it’s out of the question for us to say we should strive for excellence and go beyond that.”