Letter To the Editor
by Michelle Carroll-Smith
December 7, 2009
Thank you for your recent coverage on Lytle ISD district finances. The audit results were very positive, as they have been for the past 8 years. School districts are require by law to have their books audited on an annual basis to make sure districts are managing their books according to the law, make sure there aren’t any miscalculations, and make sure districts are operating within reasonable bounds of the approved school year budget. The district’s finances have not been in the red for quite some time because we have been managing to operate within our approved budget. School finance is a complicated process in that you are working with three years at any time. For example the school year the audit report was based on was 08-09, which ended on June 30, 2009. We will not get the final figures on actual revenue for that year from the Texas Education Agency until February 2010. We are currently operating the 09-10 budget and are planning the 10-11 budget now. Many times figures and discussions that are taken out of context make it even more difficult for the public to understand. The need for the previous tax rate election, TRE, is one of those events. One might think after reading the audit article that the TRE wasn’t needed in order to balance the budget. While technically that is true, what is missing in the story are the cuts and sacrifices that were made to reduce the budget to an amount we could afford without the additional $1 million revenue the TRE would have brought our district. Many sacrifices were made in order to do that.
Over the years we have managed to live within our budget. The failure of the tax rate election did not cause us to venture away from that goal. We made cuts to programs and personnel in order to live with the amount the district receives. The point that was not made clear in the newspaper article is the sacrifices that students have made in order to keep the budget balanced. Some of those include sacrifices in electives at the secondary level and sacrifices in extra reading interventions at the elementary level. The loss of field trips was also a sacrifice on the student’s part. Many extra-curricular events for secondary students were sacrificed. Student to teacher ratios increased resulting in less time for students to receive extra help. Before and after school tutoring decreased as well as personnel available to do the tutoring decreased. In addition to the sacrifices the students made the employees have sacrificed as well. Many good people left and found employment with higher paying districts in our area. Those that stayed such as food service, maintenance and transportation employees have not seen a raise in over a year.
I would like to point out that even though we are able to live within our means the TRE was necessary to provide the opportunities for Lytle ISD students that are available to students in other districts. Again thank you for the positive coverage on the finances of the district. I just want to make sure your readers understand that it came at the expense of students.
As we are talking about students I would like to invite your readers to participate in Long Range Planning for the districts facility needs. The next meeting will be at the High School Library on Friday, Dec 11 from 6-9 pm and Saturday, Dec 12 from 9 – 4 pm. The previous meeting was a huge success with several members of the community offering comment. The more input we have the better we can reflect the desires of the Lytle community. Please RSVP to 709-5100 if you plan to attend. We will provide snacks and a meal for your hard work. Thanks, hope to see you there. It’s A Great Day To Be A Pirate!
