Bryan ISD trustees heard the state-required efficiency audit that comes before any voter-approval tax rate election at their Oct. 19 meeting, giving voters a side-by-side look at how the district compares with similar Texas districts before the Nov. 3 ballot.
The report was prepared by MoakCasey, LLC, a school finance consulting firm the district hired in May. It follows guidelines from the state's Legislative Budget Board and, the firm notes, is not a financial audit: it offers no opinion or findings.
Instead it lines Bryan ISD up against 10 peer districts and state averages, then reports the district's own answers on a list of management practices.
What is on the ballot
Bryan ISD now levies 6 cents of so-called enrichment pennies on top of its compressed base maintenance and operations rate of $0.6168, according to the presentation. State law would allow up to 11 more, but the district is asking for 2, which it estimates would raise about $2.5 million.
Pay and spending
The sharpest gaps in the comparison are in salaries. The district's average teacher salary is $59,776, against a peer average of $65,635 and a state average of $68,001. Average administrative pay is $85,494, compared with $95,199 among peers. The superintendent's salary, $265,206, is below the peer average of $305,771.
Payroll makes up 81.2% of all-funds spending, slightly above the peer and state figures. Bryan ISD spends $13,700 per student on operations, about $568 more than its peers, with $7,611 of that going to instruction.
It takes in $12,577 per student, $447 below the peer average, and relies more heavily on local property tax: $5,254 per student from local maintenance taxes versus $3,580 for peers, while state aid per student is lower.
