2025-26 Budget Development
Frisco ISD has a fundamental responsibility to act as a responsible steward of public funds, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are used effectively to support student success. After years of sustaining District programming and staff through deficit budgets, Frisco ISD has had to make difficult but necessary decisions to restructure in response to inflationary and budget constraints and declining enrollment.
The School Board will hold a series of budget workshops throughout the spring before adopting a final budget in June. The District remains committed to maintaining financial stability while ensuring that students continue to receive high-quality education and support services.
Budget Development Updates
April 14, 2025
The Board discussed salary benchmarking and received an update on budget development.
Chief Finance and Strategy Officer Kimberly Smith presented comparisons of Frisco ISD’s salaries to the local pay market, which is made up of 19 other districts in the DFW area that FISD historically competes with for staff.
Frisco ISD’s teacher hiring scale, which calculates a new teacher’s salary based on their years of service outside the district, falls slightly below the local market median for the 2024-25 school year, although the scale is still considered competitive with the local market.
In previous years, FISD’s new teacher salaries outpaced the market for teachers with more than 10 years of experience. Smith noted that the main reason for the change was that FISD compressed the teacher pay scale in 2024-25 to help raise the starting teacher salary within available funding.
Non-teaching positions were all benchmarked as competitive with the local pay market.
Regarding budget development, the preliminary 2025-26 budget is nearly complete. Notable changes from the February 25th budget workshop include:
A reduction in budgeted savings for travel to Career & Technical Student Organization (CTSO) state-level competitions.
Based on feedback from the community, the Board requested a solution to CTSO travel that provides some budgetary efficiencies while still offering ample student student opportunities.
Budget savings for CTSO travel was reduced from $500,000 to $250,000.
Inflationary increases for services such as property appraisals, school resource officers, and substitutes will offset the savings identified so far.
The preliminary budget sits at a $5 million deficit, with more work to be done over the next 2 months. Smith reiterated that the budget is expected to be fully balanced budget by June.
February 25, 2024
Chief Finance and Strategy Officer Kimberly Smith presented the budget development process and critical factors influencing the budget before discussing the 2025-26 preliminary budget with the Trustees. The critical factors for the 2024-25 budget include:
Enrollment: FISD’s enrollment is declining, with more than 1,300 fewer students this year and additional decline expected next year.
The economy: Inflation, employment competition, and other economic factors like utility rate hikes and rising insurance premiums.
The Texas Legislature: The 89th legislature is in session this spring. Additional money for public schools is expected, but it’s too early to say how much or how it will be directed. Additional money for public schools is expected, but it’s too early to say how much or how it will be directed.
After three consecutive years of deficit budgets, Trustees tasked FISD staff to balance the 2025-26 budget to ensure the District’s long-term financial health. Through the budget process so far, district leaders have identified:
$15 million saved through staff restructuring
$800,000 saved through extracurricular program changes
$1.5 million saved in non-instructional expenses
Smith said further restructuring and programmatic changes will get the District to a fully balanced budget before an expected Board of Trustees vote in June.
Smith also provided an update on the 2024-25 budget, which district officials are proud to announce has been balanced. The $30 million deficit budget adopted in June 2024 included $15 million for a 3% across-the-board staff raise. By using funds from the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone for the M&O budget and receiving $8 million from the state via a one-time property value audit, the deficit has fallen from $30 million to $3 million for 2024-25.
A $3 million deficit is considered balanced given historical FISD spending trends and the likelihood it will fall further before the year is through. Smith stated she expects the district to generate a surplus by the end of the year, although budget cuts will still be necessary as the surplus won’t impact next year’s revenue.
December 11, 2024
The School Board held a closed-session budget workshop pursuant to sections 551.072, 551.074, and 551.076 of the Texas Government Code.