With a focus on meeting the academic needs of more than 24,000 students during the 2019-20 school year, the Comal ISD Board of Trustees approved Thursday night a $204 million budget, which includes a four percent raise for teachers and staff. In addition, staff on the teacher salary schedule with six or more years of experience will receive an additional $250. Finally, approximately three percent of the budget has been allocated to support 110 new positions that will address continued enrollment growth.
“This year’s budget reflects that Comal ISD is a human talent intensive business, with two out of every three payroll dollars dedicated to those who work closest to our students,” explains Comal Board President Jason York. “With all of the school finance law changes by the legislature this year, it was important for this Board to approach our budget with a conservative mindset and focus on balancing our resources between compensating our teachers and staff for their hard work, while also addressing student enrollment. While it is not perfect, it allows us to accomplish our desire to continually improve our work.”
Comal ISD’s budget is built on a Maintenance and Operations tax rate of $0.97, which is $0.07 less than the previous year’s tax rate due to tax rate compression mandated by recent changes in school finance law by the legislature. The Board will adopt the 2019-20 tax rate in September.