Opinion: AISD is stepping up to invest in our students. So should the state

As Austin ISD students step into summer, the district’s focus has turned to August, when a new school year begins. Thursday night's scheduled vote on Austin ISD’s 2023-24 budget is central to that work. The proposal includes a bold investment in the staff who are essential to student success, but to sustain this support for our students, we also need the state to do its part.

After a legislative session failed to increase the baseline funding for Texas public schools despite a record financial surplus, Austin ISD is digging deep to ensure the success of our students and the people who support them. But the district’s proposed budget carries a steep cost, requiring us to reach into our reserves to spend millions more this year than we expect to receive under state funding formulas.

In May, trustees unanimously approved the heart of our budget: a 7% raise for every teacher and a $4 per hour increase for all hourly staff, designed to retain and recruit the skilled and valued people students need. Without this raise, 2,100 of our hourly employees would earn less than our city’s teenaged lifeguards, who start at $20 per hour.

Our commitment to increased pay is already showing strong results. This time last year, the district faced about 1,000 teacher vacancies. Today, we have just 80 vacancies. When our students return in August, we expect every campus to be staffed with the highly-qualified teachers, librarians, principals, counselors, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and custodians who are essential to every child’s success.

The proposed budget also targets student achievement and teacher effectiveness with strategic investments like campus instructional coaches, stipends to help fill our hardest-to-staff positions and major investments in special education. Our students deserve nothing less.

But deficit budgets cannot be sustained. Districts across Texas are feeling pressure from inflation, increased student needs and a statewide exodus of educators. Districts across our state are struggling to meet crucial needs, saying no to much-needed raises, considering closing schools or cutting programs, and drafting deficit budgets for the upcoming year. The state has the funds to help meet students’ needs thanks to a record surplus. But they have not allowed our state’s bounty to benefit students and schools.

In Texas, locally elected school boards determine how funds are spent. The state legislature determines how much each district receives. And year after year, our state chooses an amount that’s far below the national average, currently about $4,000 per student less. The state’s choice to underfund public schools impacts 5.4 million Texas students – more than 10% of all public school children in the country, placing Texas in the bottom 10 states in per-student funding.

As trustees, we are called to consider what our students need, what the state requires and what our community values. Our community has told us they value public education, success for all students, and support for the people who work in our schools. We have chosen to invest in dual language at dozens of campuses, a focus on whole-child education and life-changing programs like early college high school. We have more National Board Certified teachers than any other Texas district. We outperform the state across many measures, including graduation rates across every demographic. Each of those successes for our students requires funding.

On Thursday, our budget vote will shape the year ahead for our community. By stretching every dollar and ensuring we invest in items that have the greatest academic return for students, school districts are doing our part. But we can’t do it alone. We hope the Texas Legislature will find the will to do their part to support our students, our teachers and their schools.

Singh is president of the Austin ISD Board of Trustees. Boswell, a board trustee, chairs the board’s Intergovernmental Relations Committee.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Opinion: AISD is investing in our students. So should the state.