{"id":884807,"date":"2026-06-22T12:13:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T12:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/884807\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T12:13:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T12:13:04","slug":"drum-roll-keller-isd-26-27-spending-plan-closes-12m-shortfall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/884807\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Drum roll\u2019: Keller ISD \u201926-27 spending plan closes $12M shortfall"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Janna Franzwa Canard, Fort Worth Report
June 20, 2026<\/p>\n

To learn more about how the transcript that informed this report was created, visit Cambridge Artificial Intelligencer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Keller ISD finance department presented an optimistic 2026-27 budget to school trustees at their June 11<\/a> meeting: a spending plan that would close a looming $12 million shortfall and even produce a small surplus.<\/p>\n

Finance staffers propose to erase the projected deficit by leaving open positions unfilled; reducing department budgets; and drawing down a reserve fund for workers\u2019 compensation. Expenditures for facilities and buildings remain intact \u2014 and employees will get a small pay increase.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to do department budgets and able to decrease those and not have to touch the building budgets,\u201d Pamela Stranathan, chief financial officer, said.<\/p>\n

The proposed budget projects total revenues of $346.4 million for fiscal year 2026-27. The 2025-26 budget<\/a> was $340.3 million as approved by trustees June 26, 2025.<\/p>\n

Trustees are scheduled to adopt the 2026-27 budget June 25<\/a>. Certified property values from the Tarrant Appraisal District<\/a> and final revenue calculations will follow in July, after which any necessary amendments will be considered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we need a drum roll,\u201d Stranathan said. \u201cBecause I know there are several of us in this room that are sleeping much better over the last few days after finalizing what we\u2019ve put together.\u201d<\/p>\n

To help balance the budget, the district will draw on its workers\u2019 compensation reserve fund<\/a>, currently $1.4 million above the required threshold.<\/p>\n

On the state funding<\/a> front, significant uncertainty remains. Keller Superintendent Cory Wilson said that, of the $8.5 billion approved by the Legislature for public education, the Texas Education Agency has only allocated $4 billion.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re hopeful that we don\u2019t receive less than we anticipate, but we have no idea what that\u2019s going to be,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n

The proposed budget also includes pay raises for employees. Those who are on salary schedules with built-in raises for certain milestones would receive those \u201cstep\u201d increases plus 1%.<\/p>\n

All other employees would receive a 1% across-the-board raise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a pay raise \u2026 an actual across-the-board for everybody,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Eric Zarate is a freelance journalist. If you believe anything in this account is inaccurate, please email us at news@fortworthreport.org with \u201cCorrection Request\u201d in the subject line.<\/p>\n

This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/06\/20\/drum-roll-keller-isd-26-27-spending-plan-closes-12m-shortfall\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n

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