Trustees realign after canvassing election results

Kindra Lucia, left, Place 6 incumbent, and Sammy Stephens, the Place 7 winner, are administered the oath of office at the May 11 WISD Board of Trustees meeting.

The board also canvassed votes from the election for Place 6 and Place 7 and swore in returning member Kindra Lucia and new member Sammy Stephens and reorganized with Brian Catlin taking over as president, Adam Feriend as vice president and selecting Wally Wallace as secretary. 

Reid Blackwell. WISD Director of Communications, began by naming each retiree, their positions and years in education overall and to WISD (188 total) and also shared each person’s plans for retirement. 

As each was announced and made it to the front, Superintendent Dr. Beau Rees congratulated them and handled them a gift on behalf of the district. A brief recess for a reception was then held. 

When the meeting resumed, Chief Financial Officer Patricia Melendez, whose interim tag was removed earlier in the meeting, gave a brief update on both the 2025-26 budget as well as a preview of the 2026-27 budget. 

For the current budget, there was a one percent deficit due to values originally provided by the State Comptroller’s Office that came in less than originally promised due to a calculation error on their part that stemmed from the frozen levy for Homestead Exemption for those older than 65. 

Catlin then asked for clarification on the State’s promise to make the district whole and it was explained that the hold-harmless was not as presented to the District. 

“It was more harm than less,” he quipped. 

For 2026-27, Melendez said the numbers shown would be clearer in the next month after receiving taxable values from the Parker County Appraisal District. She added that they were not expecting much growth in the amount received from property taxes - $57 million as opposed to $55.8 in 2025-26 - due to the frozen levy and also the information being received. 

“We’re being very conservative with the numbers as we still don’t know how the vouchers will affect enrollment,” she added. 

Melendez said that the budget as presented did not yet include any raises, which the board usually considers in June. She presented four scenarios of what the budget would look like if varying percentages ranging from 1.5 percent to three percent were to be considered and ultimately approved. Each would still allow the district to remain with a 3.5 month fund balance as directed by the board. 

Rees said compensation is one of the main recruiting tools for the district since they don’t offer a four-day school week as some other districts in Parker County do so they are at somewhat of a disadvantage when searching for top-tier staff.

“I implore all of you to please look at it as employees are taking home less pay,” he said, adding that health insurance premiums for staff are going up 15 percent in the new fiscal year due to lower offsets by the state. 

The business office will continue to refine the numbers, Melendez said, and trustees will receive another update on June 8. Certified tax values should be received in late July and public hearings and adoption of the proposed budget and tax rate take place in August.