By Cheryl Skinner

Fort Bend Independent School District board members approved a $498.3 million budget last week that eliminated a proposed increase in employee contributions to the health care insurance and maintained the suggested 2 percent pay increase for support staff.

Board members gave the nod for the final 2009-10 budget after a touch and go debate over some of the proposed budget’s issues. Two board members felt the proposed raises for the support staff should be eliminated because the increases were not mandated by the state as are the teachers 2.7 percent hike. Other board members wanted to keep a proposed increase of $10 per month that employees would have to contribute to their health care insurance plan.

The district will now be faced with an $18.6 million deficit. In a press release issued by FBISD following the budget approval, officials said they will continue cost cutting measures to reduce the deficit. The deficit comes out of the existing fund balance, which is basically a savings account set aside by the district to cover emergencies and to beef up bond ratings.

The budget under consideration by the board had included a plan to raise employee’s health insurance costs. Chief Financial Officer Tracy Hoke had proposed raising employees’ health insurance premium contribution by $10 per month, the yearly deductible from $400 to $500 and the emergency visit co-pay from $150 to $250. While the monthly $10 increase was removed from the final approved budget the other increases will remain in the final budget.

Board member David Menendez made a motion to remove the $10 increase, saying it would impact the lowest paid employees in a negative way.

Three board members, David Reitz, Marilyn Glover and Laurie Caldwell wanted to keep the increase in the budget.

Menendez’s motion to remove the increase passed on a 4-3 vote, with Reitz, Glover and Caldwell opposing.

During the same pre-vote discussion, Reitz suggested not giving a 2 percent raise to non-teaching staff, including bus drivers, groundskeepers, janitors, cafeteria and warehouse workers, as well as administrators and paraprofessionals. He said the district isn’t mandated by the state to offer the 2 percent increase, unlike a 2.7 percent raise included in the budget for teachers, counselors, and nurses as required by a new state law.

Glover joined Reitz in voting for the motion, which was defeated by the rest of the board members.

Despite the debates and failed attempts, all seven board members voted in favor of the finalized budget which cast aside the insurance increase and kept the pay raise for regular district employees.

Due to the Fort Bend Central Appraisal District’s delay in certifying the property evaluations, the district’s taxable property value cannot be certified. Officials are hoping to be able to set a new tax rate in a month. The new rate may see a 3.5 cent increase, going up to $1.305 per $100 assessed value. Last year, the rate was raised by 2 cents from $1.25 in 2007.

FBISD officials say the budget includes an increase in the spending per pupil, a continued “low administrative cost ratio”, and additional staffing for opening a new campus Juan Seguin Elementary School.

After the meeting of the board and the approval of the budget, FBISD sent a press release saying “The budget is designed to provide educational services for a projected 68,999 students. Overall, the district spends 66.76% of its budget on classroom instruction. The expenditure budget per student increased to $7,222 as compared with last year”s budget of $6,875, with a net increase of $347 per student.”

While the increase in the budget was, in part, blamed on the state reducing their contributions to FBISD, the district is receiving approximately $19.8 million in stimulus funds to offset the state’s share of school finance.

District officials say the stimulus funds will be used, in part, to finance the additional $120 per student which Fort Bend ISD received as a result of House Bill 3646. “It is important to note, that after implementing the state’s mandated salary increase, the district gained less than two million dollars, or 0.4 percent of the current operating budget, in new discretionary revenue,” a prepared press release said.
“The Board and administration are committed to redirecting costs to balance the budget, while encouraging state legislators to provide financial relief for schools. Campuses and departments are being asked to decrease budgets even more. The district is also reviewing all staffing allocations for possible savings through reallocation and attrition, identifying and using energy conservation measures, critically reviewing all travel requests, delaying some new initiatives, and reviewing costs for catering and snacks for meetings,” the press release said.

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