At the Fort Worth ISD Board of Education meeting on June 9, the district presented to the board and public the first look at the 2026-27 budget. 

The first look at the budget was created with student academic achievement at the forefront. The proposed budget cuts costs not related to student achievement, incentivizes classroom staff, and redirects funds to where they are needed most for student success.

The budget workshop is the first step in the budget approval process and is not the final budget presentation to the board.

Leading into the 2026-27 budget, the end-of-year deficit forecast from the 2025-26 school year has decreased from $43.6 million to $12.6 million.

The 2026-27 proposed budget is working with a projected enrollment of 63,068 students and a daily basic allotment of $6,215, with an Average Daily Attendance projection of 58,022 students. Combined with other revenue and taxable income, that gives the district a general operating fund of $854.2 million.

The district is proposing keeping the same tax rate for 2026-27, which is $1.0291. The proposed budget has projected expenditures of $904 million, creating a deficit of $49.8 million.

With the proposed budget, the district will still have a three-month operating budget in the fund balance; however, if steps are not taken to right-size the district to declining enrollment, the fund balance will continue to decrease.

There are a few key factors leading to the budget deficit, all of which are done with the mindset that it is needed to help kids succeed. First, the district is investing in 5% raises for all classroom teachers. This helps incentivize our most important talent. The district is also proposing a 2% raise for other staff, excluding directors or higher. This will help keep valuable staff who provide support to the campuses.

The ELEVATE model is costing the district $25.1 million, but it is an investment in improving low-performing schools. The decline in student enrollment is costing $12 million, on top of $8 million in utilities operational costs. 

The state also increased the amount of recapture funds the district must surrender, which is $1.4 million.

Despite the deficit, the district also made substantial cuts to help decrease expenditures. Retiring campuses saved Fort Worth ISD $15 million, and $10.6 million worth of vacant positions were closed. Recent department reorganizations are saving $8 million on top of $13.9 million in expenditure reductions. The district is saving $25 million in vacancy factors, which is a budget adjustment for reduced personnel expenses and savings based on positions that will be vacant for part of the year due to normal turnover. The district is also saving $2 million in unspent funds.

Moving forward, the district will host the public hearing for the budget on June 23 and adopt the budget on June 23. The tax rate will be adopted before Sept. 30.