Tioga ISD's demographic makeup has tipped back to majority residents instead of transfer students for the first time in over a decade.
Based on the fall enrollment report, the district composition is 51% resident students and 49% transfer students.
'For the first time since probably 2011-12, we are not a majority transfer district,' Superintendent Josh Ballinger said. 'We rolled over to majority resident in Tioga ISD for our student population. … That shift is important, as long as you can maintain your population, which we're slightly down, but moving into the future because of the values.'
That 'really is all tied together' with the capacity the district has for debt service room, which is needed to finish paying off the debt for the Tioga High School building.
As it stands, the district cannot borrow more yet because the property tax exemptions kept the district's values stagnant.
TEA Conservator Dr. Karen Wiesman, during her report, also again said TISD is on the right track for fixing its financial position.
'I sent Josh the template for the '25-26 [FIRST rating submission],' she said. 'Currently, it's showing right now with the changes that they have on the FIRST rating and the additional indicators, y'all are showing a score of 70, so you're squeaking in at passing for this coming year.'
Tioga ISD is also working on its 2026-27 academic calendar, with Tioga High School Principal Keith Kirkland leading the work.
Ballinger added that the district's start date is Aug. 24 no matter what form the calendar takes.
The end of the year is a bit hazier.
'The main decision, like Mr. Kirkland and I have already talked about, is whether or not we want to try to get out before the 31st of May, so make the 28th the last day of school, or have to go back until the 4th of June and have more four-day weeks,' he said.
Ballinger also said the district will likely stick to having Mondays off on the four-day weeks.
'There's four or five Mondays throughout the year that are already holidays anyway,' he said. 'That helps.'
Kirkland is set to bring at least three options to the sitebased committee in February and said he would love to have community input on the possibilities.
Trustee Nick Oliver said some feedback he's heard is 'people would like to do all the Mondays' upfront.
Kirkland said he's willing to examine that.
'Some feedback that we had once we got into the site-based meeting last year with some of our teachers did mention wanting some of those five-day weeks as we get closer to test time in the spring,' he said, adding that not all staff felt that way.
During the meeting, the board took Wiesman's recommendation to invest in the TASB/First Public Lonestar Investment Pool to continue paying down the district's debt.
'In order to keep meeting that deficit that's in our debt service fund … the effort has to be made to designate money,' he said. 'Over the last couple of years, we've done that by just setting up a little simple plan that each month we're going to move [$70,000], $80,000.'
That method makes the cash side of the district's accounting dip.
'If you can start an investment account to where you designate that from your general fund, it still shows as cash available,' Ballinger said and had Wiesman confirm.
Also during the meeting, the trustees called a May 2 election for seats 3, 5 and 7.
The board also briefly discussed moving meetings to the second Monday of the month but took no action on that.
The board adjourned into an executive session late in the meeting to discuss personnel and Ballinger's annual evaluation but took no action when it returned to the open meeting.
