District adopts 2026-27 budgets after public hearing

A busy night for the Weatherford ISD Board of Trustees began with a special meeting to host a public hearing on the 2026-27 budgets and ultimately vote to adopt it. 

In all, there are three budgets that require adoption — general operating, debt services and the Child Nutrition Fund — and a public hearing must be held before it can be considered for adoption.

Prior to the hearing, Chief Financial Officer Patricia Melendez presented final amendments to the 2025-26 budget that have no affect on the bottom line, yet still needed to be approved. She then took time to recap the numbers given to the board and the public earlier this month. With no speakers on the matter, and only minor clarification questions from trustees, the board unanimously adopted the three budgets. 

For the general operating budget, expected revenues are slated to be $100,999,462 while expenses are $100,996,253, leaving a slight surplus of approximately $3,200. This is based on the published tax rate of $0.9342 per $100 valuation

The rate is comprised of $0.7552 for Maintenance and Operations (M&O) and $0.1790 for Interest & Sinking (I&S).  It is $0.10 lower than the 2025-26 rate, something Melendez said the district is "proud" of being able to do due to its conservative approaches. 

During the regular August meeting, Melendez went over the budget in detail and stated that although the district’s student enrollment and ADA numbers remained static at 8,153 and 7,494.14, respectively, taxable property values increased by 2.28 percent, totaling about $8.4 million. 

She also said the highest portion of expenditures is the district’s payroll at 82 percent and included in the number is a 2.5 percent pay increase for all teachers and employees approved at the board’s June 8 meeting.

Total cost for the measure was estimated at $1.67 million. 

The Child Nutrition Fund has a small surplus expected for the upcoming year, although the funding is separate and self-sustaining, and the Debt Service Fund, represented by the I&S portion of the tax rate, was within balancing parameters. 

There is still some procedural cleanup that has to happen at the Sept. 14 meeting regarding the No-New-Revenue Tax Rate, Voter-Approval Tax Rate and Rate to Maintain Same Level of M&O Revenue & Pay Debt Service and Set the Tax Rate Ordinance, Melendez said, explaining that it was standard practice for districts to review since it has until the end of September to finalize. 

At the conclusion of the vote to table those two items and adjournment, the board and Superintendent Dr. Sean Scott headed to Kangaroo Stadium for Meet the Roos.