Frisco ISD braces for recession, still includes pay increases and new employees in proposed budget

Frisco ISD officials are bracing for a recession, but they still plan to invest in staff and teacher pay raises, new staff and a $650,000 increase to the district’s secondary fine arts budget.

“We are making recommendations to you under the assumption that we are entering into a recession, and it is realistic that we will lose funding in the next biennium,” Frisco ISD Chief Financial Officer Kimberly Smith told Frisco ISD Board of Trustees on May 13. “However, all of the recommendations that we’re making are intended to be sustainable.”

District officials originally planned a 3% midpoint raise for all staff, but due to concerns about possible revenue loss and the recession, the recommendation was reduced to 1.5%, Smith said. The district also has no plans to furlough any employees in the wake of COVID-19.

The proposed budget allocates $10 million to provide a $1,000 raise to those on a teacher pay scale and a 1.5% midpoint raise for other staff. It also increases the minimum wage for bus drives and custodians, among other adjustments.

“We want to make sure that we’re able to compensate and continue to compensate our people competitively going forward, even if there are funding cuts,” Smith said.

She said the recommendations being made are meant to be sustainable and shouldn’t need to change in the future due to shortfalls in the budget, which includes a cushion in case of unexpected costs or revenue losses.

District officials have already postponed the construction of its 12th high school in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Smith said some of those revenue losses could come from lower enrollment. There is a likelihood of a slowdown in enrollment, she said, but so far the district is actually projecting an 2,100 students for next year.

Another increase in the proposed budget is an additional $650,000 to the district’s secondary fine arts budget. The fine arts department would work to spread the $650,000 out across different secondary fine arts programs.

“It’s not meant to eliminate fundraising efforts altogether,” Smith said. “But it is intended to reduce the out-of-pocket total for students and their families.

The proposed budget allocates $8.3 million to maintain current class sizes and accommodate growth at elementary and secondary levels, as well as to hire and accommodate the start-up of Emerson High School, which is set to open in the fall of 2021.

The proposal also continues a suspension of the $100 to $200 athletics operational fee indefinitely, which was already suspended for the 2019-2020 school year.

The next budget meeting will be on June 8 for a “near-final” budget presentation and a chance for last changes. Then on June 22, there will be a public hearing and a budget will be adopted.