by Nicole Bradford
With various components of school funding still up in the air, Pearland ISD board members agreed on May 13 to build a budget using a tax rate of just over $1.11 per $100 of value.
“We can go under it, but we can’t go over it,” Superintendent Larry Berger said.
The current year’s school tax rate for PISD is $1.135. The board is expected to discuss employee salaries at the June 10 meeting, and a public hearing on the budget is set for June 24.
The final budget will depend on the outcome of the 89th Legislature. If passed as proposed, House Bill 2 would increase funding to PISD by between $8.9 million and $11 million.
Another bill seeks to increase homestead exemptions from $100,000 to $140,000.
This would not immediately impact school funding, Berger said, so long as the bill includes a hold harmless provision, meaning the state would make up lost funding.
“If those provisions are not in the bill when they raise it,” he said, “we will lose funding.”
Also on May 13, the board approved the addition of eight new positions at an annual cost of $448,631. While enrollment in the district appears to be declining, district officials say the need for additional support services for students is rising.
New positions include a language proficiency facilitator, a special education position, a bilingual diagnostician to serve both bilingual and special education programs, a service coordinator to help with teacher recruiting and retention, and four bus monitors supervising transportation for special education students.
“As the special education population increases, the need for transportation increases,” Berger said.
