School districts across the state will be closely watching as the Texas Legislature begins its biennial session Tuesday. In particular, educators will be looking to see what, if anything, representatives do to tweak the formula for providing financial aid to districts.

A worsening economy, coupled with a de facto cap on state spending, has forced some school districts in the state to adopt emergency measures — including borrowing money or dipping into reserve funds in some cases — to help pay the bills.

That kind of situation does not yet exist in Howard County.

“We'll be able to do the things we need to do,” BSISD Chief Financial Officer Sandra Waggoner said. “We just won't be able to do anything extra.”

In the latest round of school financing reform, Texas education officials announced that state aid to schools would be capped at 2005-2006 school year levels. As an additional kicker, if local revenues increase, state aid to the districts decrease, meaning that local districts are locked into three-year-old financing formulas, regardless of how much revenue comes in.

“We're fine right now,” Forsan ISD Superintendent Randy Johnson said. “We're not facing a crisis ... but if you look across the state, there are several districts that are facing a real crisis.”

Waggoner said increased operating costs have forced some Texas school districts to dip into reserve funds to pay salaries and other expenses while they wait for state aid to arrive. And while local educators hope the legislature will tweak its funding formula, no one is holding their breath, either.

“I don't see anything stirring in that area,” Waggoner said. “I think they'll probably hold off until another session.”

“This is a nervous time for a lot of school districts,” Johnson said. “We hope good things come out (of the legislature session), but we're wary about other things coming out as well.”

In the meantime, area districts will do their best to pay 2009 bills with 2006 dollars.

“What this will most impact ... is the special projects we can do,” Waggoner said. “We're just not going to have any extra money. And if we have some kind of unforeseen, major repair situation, it's possible that we'd have to dip into our (reserve funds), and we haven't had to do that in a long time.”

Contact Staff Writer Steve Reagan at 263-7331 ext. 234 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it