KILLEEN, Texas — Killeen Independent School District's superintendent addressed the several million dollar deficit the district is facing. This is the second time Dr. Jo Ann Fey has been in the budget planning process for KISD, but this year the district is faced with what she describes as a 'perfect storm.'
"There are many districts that are in much worse situations than KISD and the staff that has been here and that department should be recognized for that and we should be proud of their work," Fey said. "I think we could have done a better job planning through the year without scaring everyone and that's my responsibility and I'm definitely understanding better how I should have led this charge."
Fey is leading her team to respond to around a $16 million deficit for fiscal year 2025. The shortfall was created by multiple components including no additional revenue from the state and running out of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER).
The shortfall has forced decisions and discussions about how KISD could close in on the deficit.
"I think that we're definitely moving in the right direction," Fey added. "We're discussing every position, every role, looking at data to support if we're going to keep it. We want to be efficient and effective in pursuit of great outcomes for kids and that's what I want."
KISD had a presentation during a school board meeting in June that included a list of possible reduction items. It sparked backlash from the community and staff and Fey said she understands why.
"That really set people off and and rightfully so," Fey said. "I think transparency is good and those have been things that we have considered, but not something that we were even ready to really have discussions about yet, because that was a trigger and that was not our intention."
The superintendent said the solution to the deficit is far from what the list portrayed.
"To my staff, I never want them to think that we don't value them, or we wouldn't be working this hard to cut things at central so that we can maintain the level of of work experience that they have," Fey said.
"I want the community to know that we will not sacrifice our kids for the sake of budget reductions," Fey said. "However, I also want them to know that there are areas that we could reduce because we're simply not spending the money that are already in those budgets."
It's why Fey announced Tuesday she's cutting the superintendent budget by 20 percent and wants other central office staff to make similar moves.
"I believe mine was I think it was let's say $90,000, I only spent 60,000 of it this year, and the majority of it was spent on food for kids, food for adults, for my academic data review and the risk load analysis," Fey said. "The expectation is that everybody makes cuts and then there should be additional questions being asked like if we didn't spend our money this year, go back to those budgets, line items and find out did we spend that money last year, did we spend that money that prior year and then say, do we really need that much money in those budgets because we're not spending it."
Fey said by looking at the budgets in more detail and opening up funds to be used in other places, it's also being more efficient and effective with the taxpayer dollar. It's also a direction that she believes will best support the district's financial future and continue to make student achievement a priority.
"We don't want to cut at the expense of our student outcomes, and we certainly don't want to cut at the expense of morale for our teachers and for our staff," Fey explained. "We would really like a balanced budget, but still get pay raises and we'll see what we come out. We still got a lot of work to do internally."
Fey also talked to 6 News about how she chose to "recategorize and redesign" positions to help better support campuses. She said there is 'no new positions at central office that were not swapped for a different position."
"I think that's a better alignment to support student outcomes and that is really the reason why there was a massive overhaul and there probably needs to be a little bit attention to other divisions too, and maybe that'll come in the next year or two," Fey explained.
As of now the Killeen ISD school board needs to set the budget by mid-August. The tax rate will also need to be set.
The district is looking for feedback on the budget. You can share your thoughts by sending an email to budget.planning@killeenisd.org