During Monday night’s meeting, the Brownwood ISD Board of Trustees unanimously approved the 2024-25 school year calendar, which will feature 170 full days and 10 half days for students and staff.’

Teachers and staff will report to school on Tuesday, Aug. 6 2024, with the first day for students on Wednesday, Aug. 14. The final day of school, and graduation, will be Friday, May 30, 2025. There will again be a week off for Thanksgiving, two weeks off for Christmas and a week off for spring break.

Among the new half-days will be Friday, Nov. 22 – the final day of school prior to the Thanksgiving break, which is set for Nov. 25-29. Christmas break is slated for Dec. 23-Jan. 6 for students, and spring break will be March 10-14, 2025.

Also Monday, the BISD Board approved the 2023-24 audit, which was conducted by Pattillo, Brown and Hill Accounting Firm. The school district received a clean opinion from Pattillo, Brown and Hill as no significant deficiencies or material weaknesses were found.

Regarding the current year’s budget, Brownwood ISD has amassed $37.5 million in expenditures compared to $34.7 million in revenue. The representative from Pattillo, Brown and Hill Accounting stated BISD did have $4 million in reserve and if the school district did not bring in another cent, that amount money would be able to operate BISD for a month. Pattillo, Brown and Hill Accounting added they would prefer a school district have enough money in reserve for three to six months of operation.

Trustee Eric Evans asked about the difference in expenditures and revenue this year, as the expenditures are approximately $70,000 over budget while the revenue is around $1.4 million under budget. The extra expenditures include a major plumbing issue at the high school as well as the purchase of buses, among other items. As for the revenue issues, an attendance rate that was lower than what was budgeted was cited as the main culprit for the disparity.

As for enrollment numbers, Superintendent Dr. Joe Young reported 3,395 students attended BISD during the fall semester and 3,394 students were enrolled in the spring semester. Transfers into the district included 255 in the first semester of the year compared to 257 this semester.