HOUSTON — Houston ISD administrators have directed some campuses to cut staff and reduce spending as the district faces continued enrollment losses and financial pressure three years into the state takeover.
District officials described the reductions as part of the annual “campus leveling” process, which adjusts school funding based on how closely enrollment matches projections made in the spring.
HISD said employees affected from the reductions could receive reassignment to other available positions. The district did not disclose how many campuses face cuts, how much spending schools must eliminate or how many positions could be affected.
District budget documents from May projected a loss of about 4,000 students this school year, roughly half the 8,000-student decline HISD recorded the previous year.
Enrollment has fallen each year since the state takeover began, according to a Texas Tribune analysis. Because Texas largely bases public school funding on attendance, enrollment losses reduce the district’s state revenue.
“We have worked hard over the last three years to put HISD on stronger financial footing while putting more resources into classrooms and increasing teacher pay,” Superintendent Mike Miles said in a statement. “But we also have to adjust when enrollment and revenues change.”
The Texas Tribune obtained communications from several campuses facing reductions.
At Lamar High School, Principal Rita Gaves told families that the school faced a $500,000 shortfall that could affect its choir and debate programs.
At T.H. Rogers Middle School, Principal Suparna Vashisht told parents that an assistant principal and a librarian would be reassigned as part of spending reductions.
Brooke Markeloff, whose seventh-grade child attends T.H. Rogers, questioned the enrollment rationale at the magnet school. She said the campus typically maintains a waitlist and does not usually struggle to attract students.
The district has not released its official enrollment count for the current school year. State officials expect the formal count in October.
The Tribune reported that HISD enrollment fell about 21,000 students during the first three years of the takeover, at a faster rate than comparable urban districts. Those losses had reduced district revenue by about $190 million before the latest cuts, according to the analysis.
“All of this is unsustainable. … We’re going to eventually hit a wall,” Markeloff said. “It boggles my mind that he’s allowed to spend and make all these changes without anybody checking him.”
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath appointed Miles and a board of managers to oversee HISD under the state takeover.
The financial pressure comes as state officials promote Miles’ New Education System reforms as a model for improving student achievement. The Tribune reported that the reforms cost campuses about $700,000 in their first year and add roughly $2,000 per student in subsequent years.
One HISD employee who manages finances at a campus outside the New Education System said the mandatory cuts differed from previous years, when administrators typically received guidance to adjust staffing based on enrollment.
The employee spoke anonymously because of concerns about retaliation.
Tracy Lisewsky, who tracks HISD spending and has a child who graduated from the district, said the timing of the cuts raised concerns about the district’s finances.
“Something must be really, really wrong with our cash flow … and the budget, for cuts to be coming this early into the school year,” Lisewsky said.
HISD operates an annual budget of about $2 billion and employed roughly 22,600 people last year, including about 10,000 teachers.
Other Texas school districts have also adjusted staffing after enrollment fell below projections. Fort Worth ISD, which entered its first year of state oversight, made similar campus-leveling adjustments after enrollment came in about 2,500 students below projections.
