Tioga ISD will likely owe money to the state again this year, as it is likely to be paid about $500,000$600,000 more than it should receive based on actual enrollment numbers for the 2025-26 school year.
Despite that, the district is “headed down a good surplus budget track again,” Superintendent Josh Ballinger said to the board at the Monday evening school board meeting.
“For the first time in a couple of years we are going to owe back at settle-up, but that’s because, as I’ve advertised over and over, we were predicted on the state scale to be at 645 [in enrollment],” Ballinger said. “We’re going to end at about 575.”
Ballinger, the other administrators and Texas Education Agency Conservator Dr. Karen Wiesman have kept an eye on that gap to keep expenditures down to account for the difference.
“We just want to keep that conversation on the forefront,” Ballinger said. “We know what’s coming, we see where we’re going to be a little on the short side and we’ll adjust accordingly.”
Earlier in the meeting, Ball- inger said that based on the preliminary tax figures, the district’s taxable value should increase by $809,000.
“As that number goes up, so does the revenue that will be generated from all of that,” Ballinger said.
He added that the district will “have some things to straighten out as far as [programming],” based on new hires and staff members who leave the district, Ballinger said.
One of the staff members the district is losing is a Career and Technical Education teacher, which is an area that the state incentivizes with extra funding in the form of the weighted average daily attendance, which helped the district have an increase of $97,000 from the foundation school program.
“A business teacher doesn’t necessarily walk in the door every day, so … I feel like we need to replace her with another CTE teacher,” Ballinger said.
He also spoke about a declining gifted and talented population in the school, which was one of the programs affected by the reduction in force in December 2022.
“We need to figure out a game plan in the next few weeks to get that back up and running,” he said.
The board also authorized the administration to sell surplus items that have previously not successfully sold, including technology, custodial, maintenance and livestock equipment.
Vice President Trina Colteryahn asked whether the students were able to purchase the Chromebooks they had used, but Ballinger and THS Principal Keith Kirkland explained that the way the Chromebooks are available to the students had shifted to classroom sets over individual devices because the computers have increased in price to replace.
Also at the meeting, Colteryahn, Secretary Ryan Walters and trustee Holly Mizer were sworn in after the three ran unopposed on the May 2 ballot.
Wiley Alexander and Mary Alexander again spoke during public comments about their opposition to how Ballinger handled their grievance related to Brad Strickland and their daughter, who graduated in 2023.
Wiley called Ballinger out by name during his comments.
District policy states that public comments may not include public complaints that are “demeaning or degrading specific teachers or staff will not be tolerated,” as read by Walters at the top of the public comment section.
“I’m not sure if you built up with this whole thing with that exact plan in mind,” President Dallas Slay said to Wiley. “If you’ve got something else you’d like to move onto, that’s cool, but we’re not going to sit here and demean Josh Ballinger for the next three minutes.”
During her comments, Mary referenced recommendations by Ballinger and Kirkland obtained from Sherman ISD.
“Josh Ballinger scored Brad Strickland as outstanding and above average in several categories and went so far as to indicate yes, if the person were applying for a similar position in your school district and you had a vacancy, would you consider hiring this person? Yes. Would you rehire them in your district? Yes,” Mary said.
She was also cautioned to go “through the grievance process if you’re going to talk about a current employee,” by Colteryahn.
Mary continued without naming current employees.
“It wasn’t a parent who was determined to end [Strickland’s] career,” she said. “It’s a parent who was and is determined to protect students and families from predator and groomer educators. I’m relieved to say that Brad Strickland resigned from Sherman ISD due to public outcry.”
