10 Sep 2008
District will utilize $120 million fund balance to cover
DALLAS–Superintendent of Schools Michael Hinojosa announced today that the Dallas Independent School District has an estimated $64 million shortfall for the 2007-2008 fiscal year.
"The majority of this deficit was caused by inadequate budgeting," said Hinojosa. "More money was allocated to campuses to hire additional staff last school year and we saw impressive student gains as a result. The cost of the additional staff, however, was not properly reflected in the budget."
A major reorganization of the district's finance and business services departments is being implemented.
"The lack of adequate systemic financial controls and the District's inability to reconcile accounts, input budget data, and control staff allocations created this deficit," said Hinojosa. "This is totally unacceptable."
The finance department will now report directly to Chief of Staff Arnold Viramontes. Viramontes has been directed to create a plan and make recommendations to the board to begin reducing costs for the 2008-09 school year. All options are on the table.
"Importantly, when the 2007-2008 books were closed, the District non-payroll related budgets were almost even and balanced," said Hinojosa. "It was the unbudgeted payroll costs that produced the lion's share of the current deficit."