Budget Planning FAQs

Budget Planning FAQs

Board Meeting Action - March 21, 2024

An adjustment made to the attendance boundary impacting Dartmouth Elementary. The approved plan now has Drake Drive, Columbia Drive, and Wake Forest Drive remaining zoned for Dartmouth Elementary. Residents north of Columbia Drive will be zoned for Yale Elementary.
RISD has sent initial communications to all families impacted by an attendance boundary adjustment. Families enrolled in any of the district’s special programs, including bilingual, special education, and pre-k, will be notified of any changes in campus location no later than May 15.
Principals of partnering schools are working to begin communicating and welcoming new students by the end of March and then throughout the remainder of the 2023-24 school year.
Parents who have already enrolled at a school that will be consolidated will automatically have their enrollment switched to a partnering elementary school, based on the new attendance boundaries. These parents also will be notified directly.

View additional information about the district’s transfer policy.

Project RightSize FAQs

Project RightSize is an elementary school consolidation plan, proposed as one element of several operating budget reductions and/or revenue enhancements as RISD addresses an estimated operating deficit for 2024-25 and also an elementary school model that is among the least efficient among comparison school districts. If adopted, four RISD elementary schools would be consolidated for 2024-25, and another would be consolidated for 2025-26.

Elementary school consolidation was one of several recommendations of the RISD Community Budget Steering Committee.
Review the Project RightSize plan for comprehensive information about what schools would be impacted and what new attendance zones would be.

In most cases, school consolidations require a change in attendance boundaries, and any such changes require a vote of elected RISD Trustees. Dobie Pre-Kindergarten School does not have attendance boundaries and its consolidation would not require a Board vote.

Any vote or decision to consolidate schools and change attendance boundaries would have to be made by late March, 2024 in order for RISD to be able to implement the consolidation plan in advance of the 2024-25 school year.
Enrollment for 2024-25 opens on February 27, 2024. Parents who enroll at a school that a decision is subsequently made to be consolidated will automatically have their enrollment switched to a partnering elementary school, based on where they live and new attendance boundaries. Parents whose elementary school of enrollment is changed due to consolidation will be notified directly.

Visit the Project RightSize webpage and review the comprehensive plan.

Click here to submit your questions or provide feedback.

Project RightSize is one element of RISD’s efforts to operate more efficiently, reduce costs, and generate revenue. Visit the RISD Budget Planning website for comprehensive information about current and previous budget discussions, factors, and decisions.

RISD stakeholders can also use the Let’s Talk function on the RISD website to ask questions and/or provide feedback.

No. School attendance boundaries and the boundaries of RISD trustee single member districts are separate and unrelated. Single member district boundaries are reviewed after each U.S. Census.

RISD commissions a demographic firm to prepare an annual demographic update that is typically presented in January of each year. The most recent demographic update was presented on January 18, 2024.

The Facilities Conditions Assessment is a comprehensive 2019 study of the physical condition of all RISD campuses, including all underlying equipment and systems. It was commissioned as part of Bond 2021 planning to help guide decisions about capital investments, and the index scores assigned to campuses remain useful tools to assist with long-term decisions related to buildings. Information about the Facility Condition Index scores are available with Bond 2021 resources.

After extensive study in 2019, RISD made the decision in 2020 to adopt a middle school instructional model with students in grades six, seven and eight attending middle schools, and students in grades Pre-K through grade five attending elementary schools. The academic and social/emotional benefits for students in a middle school model are numerous; and only about 5% of Texas school districts still use a junior high model.

Comprehensive information about the considerations, rationale, and process of transitioning to middle schools is available here.

No. Under Texas law, funds from voter-approved bonds may not be used for recurring operating costs like salaries, fuel or utility costs, and may only be used for capital costs like construction work or equipment with a useful life of more than one year.

Staff salaries and other school operating costs are primarily funded through the operating budget. Repayment of voter-approved bonds is the only legal use of funds generated through the debt-service budget.
The proposal to consolidate schools is based on a number of factors, including declining enrollment, an inefficient elementary model, and lack of additional state funding during a period of high inflation. Remaining schools will continue to serve RISD families, and must be maintained to meet the academic and programming needs and expectations of the RISD community. The majority of RISD school buildings were constructed in the 1950s-1970s, and periodic updates are necessary for the buildings to continue to safely and effectively serve students and educators. The need to operate more efficiently with limited operating resources does not negate the need for RISD’s remaining schools to be quality and safe places for teaching and learning.

One of the benefits of the Project RightSize plan is that it would rezone boundaries to allow more students to be able to safely walk/bike to school than are able to do currently. However, some families would be rezoned to a school farther away than their current campus. As part of back to school planning each year, RISD’s transportation department evaluates enrollment within each attendance area and determines where bus routes will be. Based on state guidelines, bus transportation is offered to families that reside 2+ miles away from their attendance area school. Transportation routes can also be added shorter than two miles if the route to school is determined to be hazardous (due to construction or other impediment to safely walking or biking). Bus route information is shared with all families at a campus in advance of the school year as part of back to school information, and is also available centrally through the RISD Transportation website.

Crossing guards are city employees (they are hired, trained, and placed by the cities of Dallas, Richardson and Garland). and not RISD employees. If Project RightSize moves forward, part of the district implementation would include working with the cities to ensure they’re aware of the new boundaries and routes to school, and helping them evaluate where crossing guard placements should be.  Like bus routes, those decisions are made in the summer leading up to each new school year.
No, the plan as proposed would not impact any current choice/managed choice areas. Applications to all three of RISD’s elementary magnet schools are open to all families living within district boundaries.
For a number of years, RISD has followed the state of Texas guidelines of a 22-1 student/teacher ratio to allocate teachers and create class sections in grades K-4, and a 28-1 ratio in grades 5-6. Those guidelines would not change, and class sizes at any elementary school should not be significantly impacted. In most cases, if additional students at a school were to cause classes to exceed the ratios above, then an additional teacher would be allocated and a new class section would be created. This is the process that RISD works through each year as families enroll leading into the start of school. In rare instances, a specific class might be at 23-1 to accommodate specific family situations at a school. If that occurs, the principal and teacher are involved in the decision and a class size waiver is filed with the state of Texas.

The primary considerations when identifying schools for consolidation are percent of building utilization, overall building capacity, additional projected decline among attendance area families, physical location in relation to partnering schools, and reducing the need to transport students. School demographics were considered as part of ensuring that families impacted would not attend a new campus with a substantially different demographic makeup than their current campus.

RISD is a minority majority school district and more than 70% of enrolled students are students of color. The four K-6 campuses recommended for consolidation have been directly impacted by RISD’s enrollment loss since the pandemic and are projected to continue enrollment decline among zoned families. RISD has lost more than 2500 students since 2019, and 85% of those students are Hispanic or Black, which has directly impacted the available space and lower utilization in many schools serving minority families.
A learning community is how RISD refers to the collection of geographic school attendance zones that feed into each high school. For example, all of the geographic elementary and junior high schools within the Berkner High School attendance zone make up the Berkner Learning Community. Same with the Lake Highlands, Pearce, and Richardson learning communities.

Utilization is a measure that divides the total possible capacity of a school with the number of students actually enrolled in a school. The capacity is a measure of what enrollment could be if every possible classroom were used as a general education classroom with 22 students.  Utilization does not account for some central programs, such as special education or Pre-K 3, that use classrooms to serve a lower number of students.  No elementary special education programs serve a full complement of 22 students. For example, a program for medically fragile students may utilize a classroom to serve 7-8 students. Campuses hosting one or more of those programs would appear to have a lower utilization percentage because the space is serving seven students and not 22. 

No, the plan as proposed would not impact any current choice/managed choice areas. Applications to all three of RISD’s elementary magnet schools are open to all families living within district boundaries.

No one in RISD wants to consolidate schools or change attendance boundaries, but the current inefficient model and financial situation necessitates both. Changing boundaries is emotional and disruptive for families and employees impacted, which is a primary reason RISD has rarely changed boundaries in the last 30 years, opting instead to add onto schools during periods of growth. After the community budget steering committee recommended elementary school consolidations in December, RISD staff intensely studied options for 8 weeks, considering a wide variety of factors that are outlined in the Project RightSize document, and a variety of possible boundary changes. The recommendations in Project RightSize represent what district planning staff considered to be the best options to address a very difficult situation. During this consideration and feedback stage, the district is open to different ideas and suggestions. Existing building sizes, level of utilization, available space, and physical locations limit different scenarios.

There is no such thing as a perfect plan for consolidating campuses and changing boundaries, and unfortunately, some families and staff will be directly impacted under any scenario.

RISD believes it will take implementation of all nine recommendations of the Community Budget Steering Committee to RightSize the budget.

RISD does not hire crossing guards. Crossing guards are employed by the City. The school district will work with the City of Richardson and City of Dallas to see if additional crossing guards are available when the new boundaries are approved by the board of trustees.

RISD would take steps to lower costs through the elimination of student programs or by cutting jobs.
Yes, if the proposed plan is approved, the campuses receiving additional students will receive an adjustment increase in their local campus budget.

Per current attendance boundaries that have been in place for decades, the following elementary schools zones require some families to cross major streets if walking to school, based on where they live. Many of these routes have crossing guards, and some do not – that decision is based on each city’s evaluation and criteria for number of walking students. If Project RightSize is approved, RISD is committed to working with the City of Richardson to facilitate the creation of a school zone and place a crossing guard on Arapaho Rd for students walking to Yale ES, and a school zone and crossing guard at Yale and Belt Line for students walking to Dartmouth ES.

  • Audelia Creek ES – Forest Lane
  • Big Springs ES – Campbell Rd
  • Bowie ES – Campbell Rd
  • Brentfield ES – Campbell Rd, Hillcrest Rd
  • Forestridge ES – Walnut St
  • Forest Lane Academy – Forest Lane
  • Heights ES – Belt Line Rd
  • Merriman Park ES – Walnut Hill Rd and Abrams Rd
  • Mohawk ES – Campbell Rd
  • Moss Haven ES – Royal Lane
  • Northlake ES – Audelia Rd
  • Henry ES – Plano Rd
  • Prestonwood ES – Arapaho Rd
  • White Rock ES – Walnut Hill Rd
  • Yale ES – Campbell Rd

Listening Tour FAQs (Pearce)

RISD will not realize the immediate financial impact to address budget needs this year and beyond.
The number of expected students from this development would not be large enough to impact enrollment at the campus.
The building would house district programs, including Special Student Service/Professional Development Center as well as central offices and possible training rooms. RISD will continue to maintain the campus grounds and fields.
The bilingual programming will move to Northrich Elementary.
An important factor driving the need for Project RightSize is the imbalance between RISD elementary schools’ capacity and actual enrollment. Under the proposed plan, students from GWHE would be absorbed at either Mohawk, Northrich or Dover Elementary (as a result of a non-contiguous boundary change).
After studying the current as well as projected enrollment numbers, the proposed boundary line created by using West Shore provided the best opportunity to balance the number of students at both Mohawk and Northrich as well as maximize their building utilization.
Yes, we anticipate that the number of transfer requests that we receive for Canyon Creek Elementary will decrease under the proposed plan.
The renovations scheduled for Northrich have been designed and planned to not impact any possible increase in student enrollment at the campus.
We recognize that there are addresses in the neighborhood that will qualify for bus transportation and a new route will be created to accommodate these students.

Listening Tour FAQs (Berkner)

After studying the current and projected enrollment numbers, boundaries were selected by identifying the most natural boundary line provided for the area, Duck Creek, for the best opportunity to balance the number of students enrolled at both Dartmouth and Yale, while maximizing their respective building utilization. Proposed boundaries are also based on the anticipated number of Springridge students at Dartmouth.
RISD recognizes that there is no one perfect rezoning plan, and currently, there are boundary lines in RISD that include students being near one school, yet attending another school.
North of Columbia means the entire block; any house with a Columbia address is proposed to be rezoned to Yale Elementary.
RISD is confident that the education and services provided to our students will continue to keep current families and attract new parents. The difficult decisions being made are focused on being able to continue to provide quality educational programs to students. School attendance for public schools is based on the zoning determined by the local governing body. School choice will not change zoning boundaries.
Dartmouth is not being consolidated, therefore current employee assignments are not affected. Seniority applies to employees who are currently at a campus proposed for consolidation. The HR department will use seniority among other considerations to make placements in vacant positions. RISD will not remove a staff member at one campus to replace them with another. Every staff member can request a transfer to another campus.
RISD will continue to work with Dallas and Richardson to identify where crossing guards are needed to accommodate the proposed boundary changes. This is something done annually to ensure the safety and security of students and families that walk and bike to school.
The purpose of the Xplore after-school program is to provide an array of enrichment activities to help balance students’ lives while also learning new things. There is continued demand for the program, which generates revenue for the district. RISD wants to increase capacity in the program to accommodate demand.
The purpose of the Listening Tours and Let’s Talk channel is to get feedback on the proposed plan. Any reconsiderations would need to ensure a balance of projected elementary enrollment, as well as the need to increase utilization of buildings. Cost savings must still be realized as part of the budget planning for the 2024-2025 school year.
The district has been communicating about budget and financial planning needs for the past 18 months, including discussions about the declining enrollment and excess capacity at elementary schools. The Community Budget Steering Committee was commissioned in July and met for six months before presenting their recommendations in December. With multiple special legislative sessions not resulting in any increase in the basic allotment for RISD, the district needs to consider implementing the elementary consolidation plan to realize immediate budget relief for the 2025-26 school year. This is to ensure the district can utilize limited budget resources to prioritize compensation of talent, maintain student programming to support student academic outcomes, and provide the resources necessary to support our staff in achieving the North Star Goal of academic growth for all students.

In 2024-25, sixth graders in the Lake Highlands learning community will be the first to transition to a middle school model as a result of construction work in the 2021 bond. Lake Highlands was selected based on the age, condition, and renovation needs of the junior high buildings in Lake Highlands. During the 2021 bond planning process, RISD did not have the capacity to extensively renovate all eight junior highs without significantly raising the debt service property tax rate.

Phase two of the middle school transformation in RISD’s other three learning communities is intended to be included in the district’s next bond package, tentatively planned for 2026. Therefore, sixth graders in the Berkner, Pearce, and Richardson communities would transition to middle schools if that bond is approved by voters and after construction is complete

The Dallas Central Appraisal District is responsible for appraising property for the purpose of assessing ad valorem property tax on behalf of the 61 governing bodies in Dallas County, including RISD. Walkability to a school is not a factor DCAD considers when valuing a property.

Dartmouth Elementary Capacity is 552 students.

Listening Tour FAQs (Richardson)

There are no major renovations needed to accommodate the consolidation.
RISD has more than 13,000 students who speak over 70 different languages. By law, the school district is required to provide a bilingual program that allows a student to grow in both their home and the English language to eventually graduate bilingual and biliterate.
There are no projected changes for the current staff at Northwood Wills. The HR team is working with Spring Valley staff to ensure preference placement within the district, as RISD wants to retain these quality educators.
RISD follows state guidelines with a 22 to 1 student-teacher ratio. Yes, staffing will be adjusted to accommodate for the increase in student enrollment at Northwood Hills.
Not yet because it’s not for sale yet. The lot is currently zoned for a church or school.
The budget savings are realized annually through the consolidation of the staff on the campus.
No, the district is legally required to provide those services, and RISD will continue to support every student’s academic growth and success.

All families can submit for a transfer to another RISD school. Please refer to the process outlined on the district website.

The park is not district property and will not close. It will still be available for use by the neighborhood. The school grounds will also be maintained and continue to be available for use by the community.

Listening Tour FAQs (Lake Highlands)

The primary considerations used when identifying schools for consolidation are the building utilization percentage, the overall building capacity, projected enrollment among the attendance area families, the physical location of the campus in relation to partnering schools, and the effort to reduce the need to transport students. Trying to ensure that families would not attend a new campus with a substantially different demographic makeup than their current campus was also considered in Project RightSize.
Supporting families impacted by Project RightSize is the highest priority for the district. We want to ensure all students and families feel welcome, accepted, and comfortable at every one of our schools. The schools that will be seeing more students will be intentional in planning events and activities that honor and welcome new students to a campus, while respecting the legacy of the consolidated campus.
No final decisions have been made about the recommendations for facility repurposing. Trustees and district leadership are still getting feedback from the community.
RISD is currently engaged with neighborhood multi-family housing units through our partnership with the Lake Highlands Public Improvement District. RISD is hosting apartment managers at the end of March to share information about Project RightSize.
The campus utilization is projected to drop if Project RightSize is approved as a result of the district’s middle school transition that moves sixth grade out of elementary campuses in the Lake Highlands learning community, as well as moving the current central bilingual program to Wallace Elementary from Northlake.
Not all of the current Thurgood Marshall Elementary students are being moved into another learning community. Current Thurgood Marshall students will be rezoned to a partnering school based on the proximity of their residence to the campus, so the majority of students will be closer to their new school or not have to cross I-635 to get to school.
The district does not have any data to support that enrollment trends will reverse locally.
Other campuses were evaluated, but Thurgood Marshall is currently only utilizing 59% of the building’s capacity, enrollment has declined and is projected to further decline over the next five years.

One of the benefits of Project RightSize is that it would rezone boundaries to allow more students to be able to safely walk or bike to school than are able to do currently.

However, some families would be rezoned to a school farther away than their current campus. As part of back-to-school planning each year, RISD’s transportation department evaluates enrollment within each attendance area to determine bus routes.

Based on state guidelines, bus transportation is offered to families that reside at least two miles away from their attendance area school. Transportation routes can also be added shorter than two miles if the route to school is determined to be hazardous due to construction or another impediment to safely walking or biking. Bus route information is shared with all families in advance of the school year as part of back-to-school information, and is also available through the RISD Transportation website.

Listening Tour FAQs (Dobie)

For 2024-25, Dobie will be home to Pre-K 4; HeadStart, which is Pre-K 3 and Pre-K 4; early childhood special education, SmallTalk and family literacy programs.

In 2025-26, there is a potential partnership with the City of Dallas to create a community center for the area.

District staff are currently evaluating Pre-K space at neighborhood schools for students to attend. RISD Academy and Bukhair have space, and more information will be shared later this spring.

Pre-K will be placed at campuses across RISD and the Pre-K 3 HeadStart will stay at Dobie for 2024-25.
The district recognizes that not everything currently part of the Dobie campus will be able to be replicated. But the district is always working to ensure age-appropriate opportunities for all students.

CBSC FAQs

Due to a variety of factors, including pandemic-fueled inflation, reduced enrollment, lack of new funding from the Texas legislature, and the expiration of federal pandemic relief (ESSER) funds, RISD is projecting a significant operating budget deficit for 2024-25.

At the conclusion of the 2023-24 budget process, the RISD Board of Trustees called for the formation of a committee to evaluate RISD’s financial picture and contributing factors. The CBSC’s charge was to arrive at recommendations for trustees to consider that would allow RISD to operate more efficiently, as well as identify opportunities to generate additional revenue.

The committee met for six months, starting in July 2023, and presented recommendations to RISD trustees in December 2023.

For more information about the work of the CBSC, visit the Community Budget Steering committee website here.

The CBSC focused its work in four primary areas: central administration and support; facility utilization; revenue generation; and staffing and compensation. Major recommendations include:

  • Consolidation of some elementary schools. RISD operates the least efficient elementary school model among peer districts and currently has more than 9,000 open elementary seats.
  • Opening enrollment to families residing outside RISD boundaries. Schools with excess capacity could serve families residing near district boundaries to increase enrollment, while prioritizing enrollment of  families within the district.
  • Placing a $0.03 maintenance and operating tax-rate increase election before RISD voters. Under state law, the district’s operating tax rate dropped more than $0.17 this year and is currently at its lowest level since 1984-85 (39 years).
  • Further cuts in central and support departments. RISD reduced spending by $14.4 million last year, primarily from areas that didn’t directly impact classrooms.
  • Implementing a new staffing framework to ensure efficient allocations and operations.

For more information about the recommendations, read the full story here from December 14, 2023.

The elected RISD Board of Trustees adopts the school district’s budget each year and will make the final decisions related to the 2024-25 operating budget. During the budget planning process, trustees will work closely with Superintendent Branum and her team to discuss and arrive at decisions that will allow the district to continue to thrive, utilizing available resources. Community involvement is a key part of the budget process, which is why community members, parents, and taxpayers comprised the majority of the community budget steering committee. 

During the budget planning process, RISD stakeholders are encouraged to provide feedback or ask questions through RISD’s Let’s Talk tool.

The CBSC recommendations are not required to be followed, but it won’t be possible to address financial challenges without implementing some of the recommendations.

Most of the recommendations would require approval by the RISD Board of Trustees to be implemented, either as part of the budget adoption process, or as separate proposals brought forward by RISD administration. RISD and trustees are facing a substantial operating budget deficit for 2024-25, and the recommendations represent potential options to rightsize the district’s operating budget. 

During the budget planning process, trustees will work closely with Superintendent Branum and her team to discuss and arrive at decisions that will allow the district to continue to thrive, utilizing available resources.

The CBSC recommendations are not required to be followed, but it won’t be possible to address financial challenges without implementing some of the recommendations.

Most of the recommendations would require approval by the RISD Board of Trustees to be implemented, either as part of the budget adoption process, or as separate proposals brought forward by RISD administration. RISD and trustees are facing a substantial operating budget deficit for 2024-25, and the recommendations represent potential options to rightsize the district’s operating budget. 

During the budget planning process, trustees will work closely with Superintendent Branum and her team to discuss and arrive at decisions that will allow the district to continue to thrive, utilizing available resources.

Budget planning typically occurs from January to June each year, with final budget adoption by the board in June. Some decisions impacting the 2024-25 school year could be made earlier in the budget process to allow time for planning and implementation. It’s also possible that some decisions made as part of 2024-25 budget planning might require more time to implement, and could potentially become effective in 2025-26.

Visit the budget planning page for current and archived information about budget-related meetings and activities.

Visit the RISD Budget & Finance page to see adopted budgets, financial reports, and other budget and finance information.

Subscribe to RISD’s free parent & community e-newsletter, School Times.

Monitor the RISD homepage and budget planning page.

Attend or watch RISD Board of Trustee meetings as budget planning and discussion occur from January to May.

During the budget planning process, RISD stakeholders are encouraged to provide feedback or ask questions through RISD’s Let’s Talk tool as the most efficient way to provide feedback and get questions answered.

Feedback about budget considerations is shared with the superintendent and trustees, and questions are answered by RISD administrators leading the work.

Navigating the world of special education can be overwhelming at times.

To assist parents of special education students, information is offered regarding:
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