Clear Creek ISD
Clear Creek ISD in League City said it’s currently facing a projected budget shortfall of $27 million for fiscal year 2026-27.
The district said it is acting fast to get ahead on solutions and help close the gap.
Clear Creek ISD is starting this spring with a “Strategic Budget Sprint Team,” which will consist of interested community members, staff members, board of trustee members and parents that will work on an accelerated timeline to find solutions for the school board to consider.
At a workshop meeting on Dec. 16, school board members said nothing is off the table when it comes to closing the gap. Solutions could range from school consolidations or staff reductions to new marketing campaigns.
“The solution, it’s going to be a multi-tiered solution,” said Elaina Polsen, Chief Communications Officer for Clear Creek ISD. “It’s not just one thing. It’s going to have to be a combination of expenditure reductions and revenue enhancements.”
Polsen said the projected shortfall is partly due to lower enrollment numbers, which are tied to state funding.
“There’s school districts across the state of Texas that are facing the same challenges,” Polsen said. “Clear Creek ISD has long been considered a fast-growing school district, and that’s no longer the case,” Polsen said.
Clear Creek ISD reported a total of 39,684 enrolled students for the 2024-25 school year, according to TEA data. The district shows a steady decline in enrollment each year after the 2019-20 school year, when they reported a total of 42,388 enrolled students.
“That really has more to do with birth rates than quality of education,” Polsen said. “The birth rates in our area across the state of Texas are down, so we’re seeing less students enrolling as kindergartners, then we’re seeing more kids graduating in 12th grade.”
Polsen said the district receives state funding based on the number of students who are enrolled and how often they attend school. She said the district needs to look at its long-range financial picture with the demographic outlook continuing to show declining enrollment over the next five years.
The budget sprint team will look at the district’s financial outlook, demographic trends and its use of schools and support facilities to make recommendations of potential revenue enhancements or spending reductions, Polsen said.
When the team’s report is complete, they will share it with Superintendent Karen Engle and the board of trustees. Polsen said there is no set due date for the report, bu that it will hopefully be completed by June.
Polsen said the district went through a similar process with a budget sprint team in 2023 to aid the district when it previously faced budget shortfalls.
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