One of the main things addressed during the action and discussion portion of the meeting was the general fund budget update given by Chief Financial Officer Earl Husfeld. He addressed not only where the 2024-25 budget is right now, but how the 2025-26 will build on what they learned this past year.
Husfeld discussed projection items such as school enrollment, which was up 24 students from what was predicted. Also, the daily average attendance rate, which affects how much funding the district gets, which was also higher than what the projections showed by 116 more students.
“What that means to our budget is it’s a little over $800,000 additional to what we had anticipated when we presented the budget to you last year,” he said.
He said that they were trying to remain conservative with the predictions since in past years they overestimated daily attendance. Superintendent Susan Bohn said that this overestimation was due to what the rate of growth was in past years, but has since slowed down, and so now they are taking a more conservative approach with predictions.
He addressed the budget cuts that the district has had to make in recent years, including $1.1 million dollars in the 2023-24 budget and $4.5 million for the current 2024-25 school year. He said that, while making those cuts was a difficult decision by the administration, it has put the district in a more favorable place financially than other districts.
“We don’t make those decisions in a vacuum,” he said. “It impacts our staff. It impacts the community through class sizes and a variety of other areas so it’s total collective effort amongst all of us.”
He said overall the budget for 24-25 is within the parameters they expected at this point in the year, including tax collections and operation expenditures.
For the 2025-26 budget, he mainly discussed how recently passed Texas House Bill 2, which is a public education bill focused on raising salaries for teachers, will affect the district. While he has not received the funding templates from the state, he predicts that $4.4 million dollars will be added to the salary portion of the 25-26 budget.
“There’s a lot of interpretation of HB2 and how it’s going to be implemented by the agency that’s starting to share that information with all the school districts in the state,” he said.
The specific raise numbers outlined in HB2 for school systems with more than 5,000 enrolled students are:
$2,500 for each classroom teacher with at least three years and less than five years of experience.
$5,000 for each classroom teacher with five or more years of experience.
Husfeld said they are currently working to get more information to make sure the 2025-26 budget reflects these increases. According to him, 85 percent of the budget goes into the district’s payroll, and the staff have not gotten a raise in the past two years. Though the bill only outlines a raise in teachers with three or more years of experience, Husfeld said they would look into how they can use the additional funding, of which only $2.6 million is earmarked for the required raises, to roll over into pay raises for those teachers as well.
Bohn said how though the budget cuts were done by people leaving and the positions not getting refilled, they did not have to lay anyone off or any reduction of force, which she is proud of. She also mentioned how she believes these pay raises are crucial due to current inflation rates that are affecting staff.
“We are interested in focusing it on our staff because they haven’t had raises for the last two years, and they’re suffering with inflation in their own homes. So that’s our priority at this point,” she said.
State medalists honored
The sound of medals clinking could be heard throughout the meeting during the announcements of commendations for Bearcat state medalists. The district was able to honor multiple state awards in UIL academics, arts, and of course, sports.
To begin the commendations, they honored two students who received military appointments, Brooks Burdine with the United States Air Force Academy and Hudson Fay with the United States Merchant Marine Academy.
The recently graduated seniors led the room in the Pledge of Allegiance and were honored and congratulated by the board on their beginning of service.
Also highlighted in the commendation was the state champion baseball team from Aledo High School, who won the Class 5A Division I title on June 6, defeating Comal Smithson Valley 8-1.
Head coach Chad Barry introduced each of the young men as they stepped up to be recognized and said that he has never had a team that gave him more gray hair, made him want to swear, and also laugh at the same time.
“I’ve never seen a group outside of maybe a couple other teams that enjoyed playing for the guy next to him more than playing for themselves,” he said. “It wasn’t about their stats or anything like that. They were more impressed with just making sure that they did their job for the guy that was playing next to them, and I think that’s where the magic happens.”
A complete list of all the students honored at the meeting includes:
Class of 2025 United States military appointments, Aledo High School: Brooks Burdine, United States Air Force Academy; Hudson Fay, United States Merchant Marine Academy.
Aledo FFA state qualifiers — Aledo High School/Daniel Ninth Grade; Logan Harle, Megan Wiliamson, Maggie Perez, Mabry Pendleton - veterinary science; Judson Voight, Adelaide Martin, Claire O’Donald, Ansley Rundle - floriculture; Jayleigh McDonald, Tripp Hoff, Camryn Williamson, Sydney Bierwirth - food science; Garrett Hoff, Maggie Minter, Maggie Perez, Logan Harle - cotton; Harper Isbell, Lola Watson, Wren Schneider, Isabella Sansalone - plant ID; Emma Patterson, Nathan Levesque, Sophie Barrera, Laura (Emmi) Garrison - dairy cattle evaluation; Emma Green, Kathryn Rester, Ellie Kate Walters, Sawyer Voight - entomology; Garrett Hoff, Presley Lawrence, Chase Joyner, Maxton Ferreira - wildlife; Judson Voight, Carsyn Barnett, Katelyn Lowe, Hailey Behrens - agronomy
2025 UIL State Band Solo and Ensemble medalists — Aledo High School/Daniel Ninth Grade; Jackson Sirois, Enrique Laredo, Andrew Mosely, Luke Bogner, Rhett Wilkerson, Isabella Stamper (2025 UIL TSSEC Outstanding Performer - French Horn), Lydia Wood, Ella Anton, Abbie Davis, Christian Chevalier, Anna Simmons, Jude McDonald, Jackson Arnold (2025 UIL TSSEC Outstanding Performer - Percussion), Joel Stoker, Amy Herring, Layla Olsen, Anthony Caggiano, Logan Steele, Jax Hunt, Jacob Carney, Max Reeder, Parker Ansley, Harper Jones, James Leising, Derrick Jackson, Aiden Hogue, Lilly Stoker, Brad Saponas, Nathan Welch, Josh Denton, Ian Flora, Eli Christensen, Kinley Garcia, Daniel Blair, Brayden DeBoer, Cohen Beard, Addie Bean, Audrey Garrett, Andrew Boykin, Jillian Guess, Michael DeLapp, Amber Furlow, Derrick Jackson, Josh Denton, Jay Bice, Will Daniels, Andrew Noggle, Natalie Hutson, Bryar Sapp, Caleb Arft, Mason Heimke, Gavin Meador, Dean Quevedo, Abbie Quinn, Rex Velasquez, Luke Willis
2025 UIL State Choir Solo and Ensemble medalists — Aledo High School/Daniel Ninth Grade; Kaitlin Brummer, Cadence Elliott, Avalynn Ratliff, Reagan James, Kaiya Formby, Caitlin McCoy, Grace Dougherty, Marcella Cable, Delaynee Tatro, James Boltwood, Edison Williams, Lillian Stoker, Lauren Kratts, Jane Wood, Lydia Wood, Lillian Bock, Violet Cole, Matthew Dominick, Presley Lawrence, Reagan Reeves, Noella Paul
UIL Academics state 1ualifiers — Aledo High School; Michael Kimball, Matthew Mooring, Ethan Pelfrey, Weston Wiggins - fourth place, social studies; Adelaide Martin - gold medalist in copy editing; Sarah Miller - seventh place in persuasive speaking
2025 UIL Class 5A Division I state softball bronze medalists — Aledo High School/Daniel Ninth Grade; Taylor McKean, Tempe Perry, Rylee Marx, Gracie Jones, Lily Heckathorn, Grace Heath, Breleigh Mayer, Jordyn Edington, Kyleigh Pawlak, Delaney Rosser, Addie Perry, Austyn Marriage, Marina Taveras, Kellyn Overturff, Kayleigh Martin, Brooklynn Taloa, Brylee Gray.
UIL One-Act Play state silver medalists — Aledo High School/Daniel Ninth Grade; Caden Ansel, Bryar Sapp, Lucas Ghent, Alyssa Giles, Jackson Blake, Christian Kimball, Sabrina Dansie, Violet Cole, Ella Giles, Eden Sawyer, Alona Lerman, Avalynn Ratliff, Maura Jaros, Abbi Rudzinski, Blake Hood, Jonny Faulk, Abby Gibbins, Katelynn Ruiz, Logan Kasper (honorable mention all-star cast), Curt Vermillion (all-star cast), Mason Steele, Lucas Steele (all-star cast), Ian Black, Avalyn Choudhry, Lulu Warren, Azariah Boykin, Maddie Estevez, Julia Bettencourt, Macy Washburn, AJ Blakley
2025 UIL Class 5A Division I baseball state champions — Aledo High School; Reese Hetherington, Ethan Hodo, Nick Foster, Luke Trager, Dane Browne, Blake Burdine, Teryn Byrne, Landon Barnes, Wilson Senhem, Johnny Ruflin, Deacon Schneider, Brennon Evans, Kyle Poindexter, Noah Graham, Lucas Nawrocki (State Tournament Most Valuable Player), Brady Huffman, Connor Whitmire, Rhett Spiers, Luke Gladchuk, Jackson Loos, Braden Montgomery, Dylan Duran, Tanner Tovar, Devin Miller, Danny Rodriguez, Brooks Burdine, Will Cayce, Reid Huffman, Grayson McKelvey, Miller Hill, Luke Sandefur
Pizzas on the way
In other business for the board, an update was given in the realm of instructional focus now that grading period four is complete in the school year by Amber Crissey, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. It showed there was an overall increase in the three aspects the district was trying to hit: a focus on learning, a commitment to a collaborative culture, and a focus on results.
Crissey said that it’s because of the collaborative work between teachers to ensure the best education is given to each student that these improvements have been possible.
“It’s a lot of time, and especially when we’re ensuring that every student has what they need,” she said. “We really do depend on one another, and we really want to make sure that we’re giving our very best to each student based on our own individual strengths.”
Also, on the action items and approved by the board was a proposal to have Domino’s pizza to be featured in the cafeteria. Husfeld presented the item and said how, while it is Domino’s pizza, it still meets the nutrition requirements outlined by the United States Department of Agriculture and Texas Department of Agriculture.
“This is not the Domino’s pizza you get when we order,” he said.
The pizza was chosen in a blind taste test conducted with students between the pizza that was currently being served, and Domino’s was the winner.
Board President Forest Collins said he’d be interested in being included for further testing and would like to try the “healthy Domino’s pizza.”
Other business items included the shuffling of board subcommittees with the strategic partners committee changing that to a community outreach subcommittee according to Collins, and that will have board members Lynn Morgan and Jeremy Pruett on it. Collins also said he would like to make a budget subcommittee with the budget deadline coming up.
In other communications items, Chief Technology Officer Brooks Moore presented a future purchase of technology annual license and warranty renewals, and Husfeld presented an addendum to inter-local agreement between the public workers’ compensation Program and the Aledo Independent School District.
All action items were passed unanimously, including a resolution to allow Bohn to begin talks with TxDOT about the sale of property needed for the road renovations and discuss how it will impact the points of entry to the Early Childhood Academy and Aledo Middle School.
No actions were taken after executive session.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here