With factors such as decreasing student attendance, less enrollment and inadequate state funding, Coppell ISD’s funding is experiencing this impact, and administrators are seeking solutions.
Superintendent Dr. Brad Hunt held a Budget Community Dialogue open meeting on Thursday evening in the Coppell High School Commons to bring light to CISD’s budget and how it is planning to address the deficit.
“I think most people recognize Coppell ISD as a destination school district. People come here for the schools and they stay here for the schools,” Dr. Hunt said. “We want to make sure that we are providing the best quality education that we can to all of our constituents.”
Chief financial officer Diana Sircar presented ways to prevent the budget from becoming further compromised.
For the 2024-25 school year, CISD is addressing these budget challenges by cutting back on costs such as district-level spending, district paid travel expenses, and payroll expenses in all employee areas. It is also planning to update transportation fees to make up for increased costs, maximize state funding through new course offerings and college, career and military readiness, and seek corporate sponsors.
The district is currently tackling financial challenges by generating revenue through concentrating marketing toward pre-K and kindergarten enrollment, and maximizing program-generating state funding. It is also managing spending by utilizing funds from the bond passed in May, and utilizing state and federal grants.
CISD’s struggle with its budget comes primarily from increasing costs in instruction, state and federal programs, as well as new mandates, such as an armed guard on every school campus who are not fully funded for by the state, despite the state government having $33 billion in surplus funds this year. Another factor impacting the budget is the decreasing enrollment due to the increased cost of living in Coppell.
The budget is also affected by the decrease in average daily attendance after COVID-19, with it being approximately 96.7% prior, and has not reached that percentage since then. CISD has tried to combat this with its Attendance Matters program at the beginning of the school year, which involved sending out messages about attendance, along with statistics about it.
“For every 1% we can increase our attendance, it would equal $1,000,000 in revenue,” communications officer Angela Brown said. “It’s important to talk to our families about attendance because everyday that you miss does impact our funding even more.”
The attendees went into the budget feedback process where they got into groups and independently wrote answers to three questions: What are the top three programs, offerings, or services that you and your family value the most in Coppell ISD? What innovative approaches or strategies do you suggest for generating additional revenue within Coppell ISD? In what ways can the district explore potential areas for cost reduction? They then shared this feedback with their group.
The attendees feedback, along with feedback from CISD’s recent survey, will be shared at the Budget Workshop at the Vonita White administration building at 5:30 p.m. on Monday
Follow @anvita_bondada and @CHSCampusNews on X.
