Extensive cuts likely in Keller school district as it wrestles with budget shortfall
Extensive cuts are likely in the Keller school district as the result of an anticipated $9.4 million budget shortfall, interim superintendent Cory Wilson said during a school board’s Feb. 27 meeting.
Chief Operating Officer John Allison said the district is looking to use fewer teachers at its middle and high schools, raising the student-teacher ratio by 0.5. This is expected to save the district approximately $2.3 million. There are no plans to increase the ratio at the elementary and intermediate schools.
Allison added that the student-teacher ratio would likely improve in future years because of declining enrollment, one of the main factors behind Keller’s budget shortfall.
Wilson said the district will do its absolute best to relocate what he called “excess teachers” to other roles within the district.
“We want to take care of them as best we can because we know this is a challenge,” he said.
Beyond teachers, Allison suggested reducing the number of district-level employees, which could save $2.1 million. Cuts to department budgets could save $800,000, and improved operating efficiencies across the board could result in $3.4 million in savings. One suggestion was to move early childhood education from offsite facilities to district elementary campuses, which, again, will have room due to lower enrollment. That could save as much as $1 million.
The Employee Health and Wellness Center is likely to close, said Allison. This center, operated by Marathon Health, offers health care services for district employees. The contract with Marathon will expire at the end of the year, as will the building’s lease. Closing this center will save the district $760,000. Allison acknowledged this decision would sting employees, but said an increase in telehealth options and the availability of urgent care facilities, visits to which the district’s insurance plan covers, will mitigate the impact.
Another $750,000 in savings would be available through cuts to intervention services, Allison said. Those would include services provided by instructional coaches, instructional support team members and ESL teachers.
“There are redundancies,” Allison said. “We can better utilize staff to support all students on a campus instead of very specific programs.”
If all of these cuts go into effect, it would balance next year’s budget, but it would not allow for the 1% pay raise the district would like to give teachers. That would cost an additional $3 million.
The nearby Northwest school district is cutting 101 teaching positions after voters rejected a tax increase in November.
Wilson expressed doubts about the state increasing public school funding. The state has not increased the basic allotment per student since 2019. Across the state, the lack of funding has compounded financial challenges caused by inflation and the end of federal COVID funding.
RSM and rezoning
Before diving into the budget, the board indirectly responded to concerns raised among parents regarding the district audit performed by Chicago-based RSM, a financial consulting firm. Wilson also addressed a proposal by the city of Fort Worth to rezone 23 properties owned by the district so that they could only be used for community facilities.
Trustee John Birt said RSM was hired after unnamed staff members made the board aware of financial irregularities and “questionable budget practices” in the district. Birt said the board elected to bring in an independent third-party consultant with forensic accounting experience, which he called “common practice.” He then directed residents to the RSM report on the district’s website. At the Jan. 30 meeting, Allison blamed former leaders for making poor financial decisions that led to a $35 million shortfall in the district’s general fund.
In recent days, parents on a Keller Facebook page have questioned the cost of the RSM audit, as well as the process by which RSM was selected to perform the audit. The Star-Telegram contacted the district for information, but the board of trustees declined to provide details.
After Birt spoke to those issues, Wilson brought up the proposed rezoning. Some have assumed that Keller’s financial troubles will cause the district to sell off assets, potentially to commercial developers. Wilson said there is no intention of doing that in the near term, with the exception of a property bought in 2024 to keep an extended-stay motel from going up across from Basswood Elementary.
“We do intend to market the property for sale and recapture the funding used to purchase the property,” said Wilson. “It is our intention to only seek buyers who intend to develop the property in a manner that is sensitive to the existence of Basswood Elementary. It would be irresponsible of the district not to try and return as much capital to our reserves as possible. A zoning change makes that much more difficult.”
Wilson left open the possibility of selling other properties down the road should the need arise. “In the years to come, if we believe it makes sense for the district to list some of these properties for sale, and if it’s in the district’s and community’s best interests, we will certainly do that. However, we do believe what is best for our community is that they remain zoned for single family and nothing else.”
One of the properties the Fort Worth City Council is considering for rezoning is currently zoned for agriculture. One is zoned for intensive commercial. The remainder include a mixture of light industrial and single-family, two-family and multifamily residential zoning.
“Most of those, particularly those adjacent to our campuses, are currently zoned single family,” Allison added. “Changing those zoning designations does not seem to make the best sense.”
Tempers again flare
After another round of largely hostile public comments, trustee Chelsea Kelly made a motion to amend the meeting agenda to add a discussion of the proposed district reshaping. Birt denied that, but after Kelly pushed back and trustee Joni Shaw Smith seconded her motion, Kelly was allowed to speak.
She asked Birt and the other board members why she wasn’t privy to an invoice that was recently shared on social media that showed Keller spent more than $90,000 on the RSM audit. Kelly said she’d previously asked for that information, and appeared frustrated that it took a public records request from a resident to get it out into the open. The Star-Telegram has not yet been able to independently verify the cost of the RSM audit.
After a brief back and forth, Birt, who was standing in for the absent board president Charles Randklev, called for a 10-minute recess. At that point, the crowd exploded in anger, leading to the removal of a young man who said he was a Keller student.
During the recess, Kelly and Shaw Smith remained at the dais while the other four trustees left the room. After they returned, Kelly privately questioned Birt before taking her seat.
This story was originally published February 27, 2025 at 9:15 PM.