Following the monthly LISD Board of Trustees meeting last Wednesday, LISD Superintendent addressed questions of a deficit budget for the next fiscal year, teacher-to-student ratios and faculty or staff retention.
Looking at a $3.4 million deficit budget, McCutchen explained that state law requires the district to have at least 75 days of operating expenses in their fund balance at all times.
For Levelland ISD and based on their recent audit, that was about $9 million. At the last audit, the district had $12,298,000 in the fund balance. With the projected $3.4 deficit out of that total, the district is sitting right at the $9 million mark.
“We are trying to decrease our expenses as much as possible to try to get into a balanced budget,” said McCutchen. “We don’t think that unless there’s additional funding from the state and we cut our expenses that we can be in a balanced budget.”
The state funding portion of the equation is concerning as there is no clear decision as to what the state legislature plans to do, according to McCutchen.
“We do know that there are some places where we need to ‘right size’ our staff,” said McCutchen. “We’ve had some people already submit retirements and we know some people that are resigning. So, we feel like a lot of the places where we need to ‘right size’ are happening just by attrition.”
Speaking to cutting staff members or teachers, McCutchen added that information is incorrect.
“For whatever reason the rumor came out that we were cutting 60 staff members or 50 teachers, etc., and that’s not true,” said McCutchen. “We are trying to control our budget because in order to be good stewards of our taxpayer’s money we have to do that.
“Every district across the state has either already made some really difficult decisions in closed campuses and ‘right size’ their staff and that’s very few that have been able to do that to have a balanced budget or they’re in deficit budgets,” explained McCutchen. “It’s just dire times right now in public schools for funding.”
McCutchen referenced a recent study that stated funding has not changed since 2019 but based on inflation and other factors that districts are required to pay, they are working with less money than they had in 2010 and 2011.
“It is really hard to continue to operate and do all the things that you want to do when there’s just no funds,” said McCutchen. “There’s been a lot of questions about the possibility of mishandling of funds and there has absolutely not been mishandling of funds because we are required to go through an indepth audit every single year.”
McCutchen added that the recent audit consisted of 73 pages of in-depth auditing from the independent auditors and then was sent to the TEA (Texas Education Agency) for the organization to review the accounting and financial side.
“If there was anything that was not up to par on the accounting side or the financial side it would have already been discovered and flagged,” stated McCutchen. “With that being said we haven’t. We had a rating of 100 A Superior on our finances and that doesn’t just happen by accident. Everything is scrutinized including every single account and every single action.”
McCutchen added that decisions being made are not a personal attack but an attempt to ensure the district is financially stable moving forward. She added that she is aware of school districts that operated on only 10 days of operating expenses in the fund balance.
“When you get to 10 days you have to choose to make payroll that month or are you going to pay your bills and keep your creditors away and your utilities,” explained McCutchen. “We do not want to get in that situation. Right now, we are okay.”
However, McCutchen added that spending $3.5 million or $3.4 million out of the fund balance and going down to $9 million which is the minimum required amount while trying to operate as a district is not sustainable.
“There has been a lot of misconception and a lot of false information, but from the district perspective, including myself, everything that’s been shared with the school board has been exactly what I’m telling you,” said McCutchen. Having been asked how this situation surprised the district, McCutchen explained the events that led to the current situation.
ESSER funding was provided by the federal government to school districts when COVID-19 became an issue. From there it was understood that those additional funds would not last continuously.
“We knew that the funding would eventually sunset and districts across the state were no longer going to have that money,” explained McCutchen. “We had been told to use this money to offset the budget because at that time the legislative session two years ago would be addressing the state school funding to offset that federal funding. That did not happen.”
At that time, the funding discussion amongst the state legislation was tied to vouchers which resulted in no decision being made. Now in the current session, talks have continued with vouchers and have been tied to some form of funding for state schools.
Looking at the current ratios of students-to teachers and what those could be in the future, McCutchen stated that schools are for the kids.
“We have to do everything we can for students,” said McCutchen. “Now, we also have to be able to have the finances to do that and also support our teachers.”
Speaking toward studentteacher ratios, McCutchen added there are instances where classrooms have students in the range 11, 12 and lower.
“Those instances are not financially sustainable for the district,” said McCutchen. “A lot of districts have up to 25 students in the classroom at both the secondary and elementary levels. We are not there.”
She did acknowledge there are classes around the 20:1 or 18:1 such as South Elementary.
“That is more in line with where we need to be to ensure we are financially stable,” explained McCutchen. “We cannot continue the really small classes around the 7 to 12 students in a classroom.”
McCutchen added that the current middle school is built to house 1,100 students and highlighted the small cafeteria. However, she stated that if the district was truly at 25:1 at every campus there would be empty classrooms.
“South and Capitol both have empty classrooms right now,” said McCutchen. “Our buildings are not full, and it makes it hard financially to sustain that method of operation.
In terms of pay for faculty and staff, there was a 4% increase in 2021-2022; a 3% increase in 2022-2023; and a 3% increase in 2023-2024. In 2024-2025, McCutchen explained that the only group that received a pay increase was anyone on a teacher’s salary scale.
McCutchen explained that TEA has a teacher salary scale which covers the minimum. The district is on a scale that pays more than the minimum, but for those teachers on it, they did have a step raise.