Austin ISD approves budget, looks to retain teachers and staff

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin Independent School District approves the budget for the next school year in hopes of retaining teachers and staff.

The Board of Trustees voted to adopt a nearly $1.9 billion budget for the next school year.

The budget includes some administrative position cuts and raises for bus drivers, librarians, custodians, and teachers.

A big part of the budget, $845 million, would go to recapture payment which is due this year. Officials say that's more than the school district anticipated since property taxes increased. They had cited the recapture payment as one of the reasons for the need to cut positions.

"The biggest challenge with our budget is paying the biggest recapture payment in the state. So a lot of that has always been scrambling around being creative to find that money. Next school year we are expected to pay back even more to the state," Austin ISD spokesperson Eduardo Villa told FOX 7 Austin in April when discussing the proposed budget.

Schools in Texas are funded by both state and local funding. That local funding comes from property tax payments. Recapture payments were created to make sure school districts across the state are equitably funded.