Katy ISD slams school funding as budget cuts loom
Katy ISD is gearing up to adopt a 2024-25 budget, but is facing financial strain without help from state legislation, Superintendent Ken Gregorski told parents this week.
In an email to parents sent Tuesday, Gregorski blasted Texas legislators for failing to allocate funds to public schools, noting the district may be facing “a challenging budget situation” as a result. “Over the past few years, Katy ISD and public schools across Texas have faced significant budgetary difficulties due to insufficient state funding,” Gregorski said in the email. “Despite a Texas constitutional mandate for the ‘support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools,’ our legislature has continued to ignore its duty to increase public school districts’ primary source of funding per child — the basic allotment.”
District officials were unable to comment further on the superintendent’s letter or on the district’s budget because the budget won’t be finalized until August, said Nicholas Petito, media relations for Katy ISD.
Texas provides schools less money per student than nearly every other state, according to Raise Your Hand Texas, a nonpartisan education nonprofit. While Texas allocates $6,000 per student through basic allotment, the average allotment per student in the United States is more than $10,000.
Lawmakers in the 2023 legislative session set aside more than $4 billion for Texas public schools, Gregorski said, but the funds have yet to be distributed to districts.
“Political maneuvering over the past year has led to these funds remaining stagnant in state coffers,” he said. “The inaction of our legislature has resulted in Texas public schools seeing no increase in the Basic Allotment since 2019.”
As funding stagnates, he argued, costs of educating children are at an all-time high.
“Record-high inflation,” cuts to special education programs, the expiration of federal ESSER funds and enrollment growth have all contributed to financial strains to Katy ISD. “Put plainly, without an increase in state funding for public education, our district is facing a challenging budget scenario that will necessitate future reductions and a renewed focus on revenue-generating programs to achieve a balanced budget for the 2024-2025 school year,” he said.
The funding crisis is becoming more serious, Gregorski said, but he added that the district remains committed to staff retention and academic excellence.
“As our district and board work toward developing a 20242025 budget, I encourage you to reflect on this with me...Our students deserve more than a ‘basic’ education,” Gregorski concluded. “Our school and community partnership must resolve to provide the best education possible for Katy ISD students.”