Transparency was the word of the day at the recent San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District board meeting. From public comments requesting accountability to the board members requesting more in depth data from their teams to share with the public; clarity was everyone's priority. Recent legislation at the state level has put a huge strain on the upcoming budget for the 2025-2026 school year, causing anxiety in students and parents about what programs will be affected due to limited funds.
SMCISD Board President Anne Halsey emphasized that the district's priorities include keeping class sizes reasonable, keeping students and staff safe and ensuring employees have insurance. Many students and parents have been concerned about the fate of extracurricular programs such as Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, Fine Arts and the Gifted & Talented programs. At the May 3 school board meeting, the board voted 5-0 for the non-renewal of AFJROTC Major Anthony Williams’ term contract. According to public comments, the non-renewal of Williams, who was the senior instructor for the AFJROTC program, brought frustration and concern for the state of the program due to budget cuts.
“On May 5, the school board decided in closed session to work on the non-renewals for teachers, knowing full well that you have several members of your community that have very strong opinions about the way you are choosing to do non-renewals," said Aaron Brown, a concerned parent. “ I think under full transparency to the community, San Marcos CISD needs to release the criteria on how principals chose who to cut. If there is not a base line standard then how do we know we are cutting the right personnel?"
Brown asked for transparency with the decision to non-renew Major Williams.
“I hate to see [Major Williams] go. I love him to death; he made sure I was safe and made sure cadets were safe,” said Rowena Brown, an AFJROTC student.
In an email to the Record, Halsey confirmed that a memorandum of understanding was executed and that AFJROTC will continue in the new school year, with no budget cuts made to the program.
“This is an unfortunate situation that no one wants to be in,” Halsey said. “We really are squeezed by the state legislature underfunding our public schools. We are not alone, I think every school district is dealing with their own issues due to the failure of the legislature.”
In order to meet the budget constraints, the district has started the attrition process, which involves a gradual reduction of staff without replacement, at all campuses. This process started this past November with the school board meeting with principals to develop an action plan for each campus. There was a hiring freeze at the beginning of the school year, and many first year teachers were notified of the non-renewal of their contracts. In the May 19 school board meeting, the district presented data representing the reductions in staff at each campus. According to the slides presented, 42.5 teacher positions were reduced at all campuses. There will be a reduction of 27 paraprofessionals as well as 35.5 leadership positions across the district.
“In recent years we have been fortunate to support small class sizes. However, to maintain long-term financial sustainability, we are moving towards more standard class size ratios, closer to the 22 to one [ratio that we have] in our lower grades and 25 to one in our upper grade levels,” said Stephanie Munoz, Chief of Human Resources for SMCISD.
Andrew Fernandez, SMCISD Chief of Communications, in an email to the Record, clarified that the reason there are decimals in the teacher positions being reduced is that some employees are funded by two sources, which could include local, grant or title funding.
“For example, if SMCISD receives a grant to cover 50% of an employee's salary, that particular employee would be funded 50% by our local budget and 50% by the grant,” he stated. “If that person were to leave the district and we were to attrition that position, the local budget would see a cost saving of 0.5.”
Fernandez stated that no programs are being cut. During the recent meeting, no data was presented on what financial reductions would be made in school programs. Halsey asked the finance team to put together information that identifies program changes, so that the board can share that data with the public.
During the recent meeting, the district presented a demographics update, reviewing enrollment history trends based on neighborhoods. As of October 25, 2024, the district enrollment totaled 8,222 students, with a 0% enrollment growth rate from 2019-2024. There was a decline in students transferring out of the district, from 1,214 students in the 2023-2024 school year to 887 students in the 2024-2025 school year. There are over 21,000 future single-family lots planned in the district as of the first quarter estimates in 2025 as well as 4,400 apartment units in-process and/or planned. By following these demographic trends, the district can plan and prepare for the increase of students to come in the following years.
The district provided a budget update for the fiscal year of 2025-2026 with a total expenditures estimated at 93,906,816 dollars, with the final budget adoption taking place in June.
