It looks like the school district is using the same budget playbook as the City of Georgetown. That is the budget continues to grow substantially faster than student enrollment growth and inflation.
Over the last 5 years, student enrollment has grown from 10,397 to 11,425, an increase of 1028 students. That equates to a 1.9% compound annual growth rate. Over the same 5 year period inflation has grown at compound annual rate of 1.22% using CPI(U) as measured by the Census Bureau.
The combined growth rate of student enrollment and inflation is 3.12% annually over the last 5 years. Thus a rational expectation would be that the school budget would increase at the same amount annually.
However, the GISD budget has increased from $101.2M to $145M for the current year. That is an annual growth rate of 7.46%.
Where is the stewardship of the taxpayers money that allows the spending to grown at over twice the rate of enrollment plus inflation?
Waving ones hands and saying enrollment growth is the reason for the budget growth just doesn't hold water when looks at the actual numbers!
Where has this extra taxpayer money been spent? We know it hasn't been on teacher salaries! Have more administrators been hired? Have more unnecessary functions been incorporated into the school system? Have some of the facilities been "gold plated"?
Taxpayers deserve answers to these and other questions about how and where their money is being spent.
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