School board takes first steps in budget talks
Frisco ISD Chief Financial Officer Kimberly Pickens addresses the board of trustees at Tuesday’s special session which marked one of the first steps in adopting a budget for the 2017-18 school year.
September 7, 2016
The Frisco ISD Board of Trustees held a special meeting on Tuesday, taking the first step towards resolving the budget crisis following the TRE vote.
“Tonight was just the beginning of the discussion of where we go forward with the TRE and the results of the election,” board of trustees vice president Bryan Dodson said.
Although the tax ratification election was for the 2017-18 school year, the board is still evaluating what could be done within the already approved budget for this year
“We had a budget workshop to talk about the budget for the 2016-2017 school year, which is the current school year and what we might look at as far as cost savings for this school year,” board of trustees president Anne McCausland said.
Despite facing a potential deficit of $30 million, school board members hope to keep budget cuts as far away from students as possible.
“As a whole, the number one goal, and my number one goal, is to protect the classroom and those that support the classroom so that we can assure that world class education continues here in Frisco ISD,” Dodson said. “We are going to have a shortfall of $30 million and so we are going to have to make some difficult decisions.”
While the school board will make final budget decisions, the trustees want to make sure that the community is aware of the budget cuts and what might happen with the cuts.
“It is absolutely essential that our community actually understands, hopefully gives us input and stay involved,” McCausland said. “Our school district is a great district because of the parents and the involvement of not just the parents, but the community.”
With just 16.4 percent of Frisco ISD residents voting in the TRE, the school board hopes upcoming decisions are made in partnership with residents.
“We encourage the community to be involved,” Dodson said. “And to receive feedback from them on the path forward and what they would like to see moving forward.”
