The Board of Trustees considered a proposal to change LISD’s fiscal year, reviewed feedback regarding middle school attendance zones and decided to keep all bus routes intact for next school year at its Feb. 7 meeting.

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Trustees examine possible fiscal year change for 2020

Trustees considered changing the start of the district’s fiscal year from Sept. 1 to July 1, which that would allow for more money on hand to support teachers at the beginning of school. The process would culminate in a change in 2020. The change does not result in any changes in the budget or tax rate processes.

Changing fiscal years in what may become Leander ISD’s first year as a “Robin Hood” or “recapture” school district, could have numerous advantages for the district, including:

  • Provides teachers and campuses with access to their budget allocations prior to school starting.
  • Performance on the State financial accountability system.
  • Provides one-time increase in fund balance by forgoing certain costs incurred in July and August.
  • Aligns fiscal year with federal grants.

The Board must formally approve the move to a different fiscal year at least a year in advance.   

Middle school attendance zone priorities come into focus

In collecting feedback from more than 3,000 people, the district found the top two priorities for families in a boundary change are:

  • Being zoned to a school in close proximity to their home, and
  • Having an aligned feeder pattern that minimizes the splitting of schools.

With the opening of Danielson Middle School in 2020, LISD utilized a surveying tool, Thought Exchange, to gauge the priorities for parents, students, staff and community members regarding the middle school attendance zones for the 2020–21 school year.

For more information about the Leander ISD attendance zone adjustment process, please visit www.leanderisd.org/msaz.

LISD Bus routes will remain unchanged in 2019–20

Trustees accepted the district’s recommendation of no reduction of bus routes for the 2019–20 school year so the administration and a citizen’s committee can continue to adjust a new rating tool.

While the new tool adds clarity and uniformity in how transportation employees assess hazardous routes across the district’s 200 square miles, in its current form, it would result in the loss of bus service to more than 1,100 students. Because of that, Trustees instructed the community committee working to develop the rating tool to revise it and present it to the Board at a later date.