Spring Branch superintendent Blaine on lawmakers' proposal for basic student allotment: 'It sends the message that our efforts have not been taken seriously'

A Houston-area public school district warned parents in writing earlier this month that it could shave $50 million from the upcoming academic year’s budget, Houston-based media outlets reported. 

Spring Branch Independent School District (SBISD) is placing its hopes of averting purported financial disaster on basic student allotment, which Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Blaine told Houston NBC affiliate KPRC needs to be increased by lawmakers in Austin.

According to KPRC, Blaine took issue with legislators’ plans to raise the basic allotment between $50 and $90.

She asserted that the figure falls short of the $1,000 per student that’s necessary, telling parents in her district what lawmakers have proposed is an insult.

“The proposed legislation sends the message that our efforts have not been taken seriously,” the superintendent said in the correspondence dated Wednesday, April 12, KPRC reported.

The Texan reported that without the $1,000 per student increase, SBISD would be forced to close campuses, implement layoffs and eliminate mental health services. 

Blaine told the publication that with the state’s $33 billion budget surplus, SBISD and other districts could be helped, but the state legislature seemingly has other ideas. 

“Our legislators are prioritizing property tax relief ($17 billion proposed) over public schools ($5 billion proposed),” she said in the report. “Without the needed funding – public school districts like SBISD are being set up to fail.”

Houston FOX affiliate KRIV reported that SBISD school board president Chris Earnest has called on parents to get in touch with their elected officials. 

"The basic allotment which is the amount of funding that the state provides per student and right now that’s $6,100,” Earnest said, KRIV reported. “We are asking that to be increased by at least $1,000 to cover these costs." 

Per KRIV, Earnest has five children enrolled in the district, which is located on the west side of Houston and educates nearly 35,000 students. 

“Those cuts particularly in the support areas of literacy and math, I see those play out with my children on a daily basis," he told the station. 

State Sens. Joan Huffman (R-Houston) and Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) pushed back against Blaine’s claims in a statement, KPRC reported. 

“It is extremely concerning that school district leadership would threaten students and families with cuts in services and increased taxes while state aid to the district is increasing, the district’s fund balance is growing year to year and the state is committing billions of additional dollars to keep school district tax rates manageable for homeowners,” the senators said. “These scare tactics are nothing more than a misguided effort to distract parents from how the school district is managing their local, state and federal funds like their recent hiring of Austin lobbyists.”