Conroe ISD hires additional teachers to bridge $12 million deficit
Conroe ISD is attempting to meet rising costs and staffing needs in the 2024–25 fiscal year despite the absence of increased state funding.
The Texas State Legislature had allocated $4 billion to fund public education in its 88th legislative session in 2023, but measures to provide those funds to schools were not passed.
CISD projects a budget deficit of $11.9 million in 2024-25. Officials said the district could close the gap this year, but planning for the 2025-26 fiscal year may require different approaches.
“The decisions (on cuts) have to be made in December and January,” said Superintendent Curtis Null.
A public hearing and vote on the budget and a tax rate of $0.9496 per $100 of value will be held on August 20.
What happens?
Of the 16 Greater Houston school districts covered by Community Impact, officials from 11 districts said they expect budget deficits in the 2024-25 fiscal year.
Comparing projected per-pupil budget deficits using Texas Education Agency enrollment numbers for 2023-24, CISD’s deficit of $245 per pupil is smaller than that of other neighboring districts. However, CISD officials said that unless legislative action is taken, enrollment numbers will increase and the deficit will continue to grow.
CISD officials attributed the budget deficits to high inflation and a lack of additional funding from the state’s 2023 legislative session, as well as increasing staffing needs due to rising enrollment, particularly in special education.
“There’s just a mix of things that are really putting pressure on school districts and forcing them to create and pass deficit budgets or cut programs, … and that’s a big problem – not just for the next school year, but the year after that,” said Bob Popinski, senior director of policy at Raise Your Hand Texas, a nonprofit education organization.
The collapse
The staffing increases in CISD’s 2024-25 fiscal year include 147 new full-time positions that will add $10.8 million to the proposed budget, said Karen Garza, CISD’s chief financial officer. Total estimated spending for 2024-25 is $711.97 million, she said. Garza said many of the staffing increases are in the special education area, where enrollment numbers have nearly doubled since 2020 because student eligibility requirements changed and more students were able to participate in the program.
The increased enrollment projections in the district resulted in additional state revenue for 2024-25 and reduced the expected deficit, Garza said. According to the TEA’s website, the enrollment projections are used by lawmakers to determine the cost of public education for the next legislative session and to set state subsidies for schools.
CISD officials said that while no major budget cuts are planned for 2024-25, they would be necessary for 2025-26 if legislative action does not provide additional funding for public schools.
The effects
To balance the budget in 2024-25, the district could tap into its fund holdings or reserves, but that would be a one-time solution, Garza said.
The $152.2 million fund balance can be used to cover the deficit this year, but is not a sustainable solution because the district wants to maintain a fund balance of 20% of the budget, Garza said. As of August 2025, the fund balance is expected to be $140.3 million, which will be below the minimum required for 2025-26.
What they say
“Since 2019, there has been no increase in the basic allotment, despite the inflationary price increases we have experienced,” Garza said.
“There has never been a legislative session where public education funding has not increased, and with the exception of the last legislative session, this is the only time it has not kept pace with inflation,” said Steve Toth, representative of the 15th congressional district of the Texas House of Representatives.
“We should be able to say to our employees in January, ‘Everyone is going to have a job. You may not have the job you have today, but … you are going to have a job,'” said CISD Superintendent Curtis Null.
Why it is important
Looking ahead to the 2025-26 fiscal year, a plan for raises for employees is not yet included in the projections, Garza said. According to the funding formula, the 2025-26 fiscal year has a projected deficit of $17.43 million.
“When we start planning the budget cuts for 2025-26, we will give you a list of the items we want to cut because we want to have a plan in place in the event that the legislature does not provide us with additional funding,” Garza said. “We do not have enough cash on hand to support another deficit budget.”
Because nearly all of the district’s maintenance and operations budget goes to payroll, the district will have to rethink its staffing levels unless additional legislative support materializes, officials said. But Garza said the district will rely on strategies such as vacating positions or increasing class sizes rather than layoffs. “Given our natural turnover in staff from year to year, if we need to cut positions, we should be able to do that through staff reductions,” Garza said.
What happens next?
Senator Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe) introduced Senate Bills 1 and 2 during the 88th Legislature in 2023, which would have provided funding for public education and teacher scholarships, but also included funding for private school vouchers valued at up to $8,000 for each student through an education savings account.
The bills were forwarded to the House of Representatives, but did not progress any further.
“There is … strong support for passage of the school funding bill I introduced last year. It would provide historic new funding to our public schools and increase the base allotment,” Creighton said in an email. “Anyone who claims we cannot provide historic new funding to public schools while also allowing choice among multiple schools is … completely misinformed.”
