USD earns another FIRST F
The Tioga ISD administration and board shared the unsurprising results of the FIRST rating based on the 2022-23 academic year: an additional F.
For months, Superintendent Josh Ballinger and TEA Conservator Dr. Karen Wiesman had kept the board and the public abreast of the situation.
“We’re a year and a half ... behind having this public hearing about something that closed in on June 30 of 2023, so a lot of the things that we’re addressing have already been improved,” Ballinger said.
That’s the timing set by the state for the financial health reports.
The lack of cash on hand and amount of short-term debt were the main factors that damaged the district in the year the grade is referencing.
“When we were taking out TAN notes to make payroll and to pay other debt, our general fund and debt service deficits, for the first time, did not go backwards this year in ’24, but certainly did in ’2223,” Ballinger said.
Although it is the district’s fourth F in a row, Wiesman and the state seem confident the district will get a better mark on its financial report card in the future.
“Y’all have made progress,” Wiesman said. “Looking forward to next year’s FIRST report, I think you’re going to see something that will show that improvement.”
Also at the meeting, Ballinger said Kurt Hall, who is one of the safety and security staff members for the district and who serves on the city council, has worked with his fellow city officials and City Sectary Donna Carney to expand the school zone for the high school further on both Airport and McKnight.
“We get a lot of support from the city of Tioga,” Ballinger said.
Also at the meeting, multiple people spoke of the Angel Tree generosity of the community.
“I want to thank all that donated and contributed to this wonderful cause for our Tioga students,” Tioga Middle School Pamela Moore said. “We had 60 angels this year that will have a wonderful Christmas due to the generous donations and gifts that were contributed. That speaks about our community as a whole, about how we just love on each other and support and build up each other.”
Ballinger also brought a pending need to the board’s attention—Suburbans and buses that are aging quickly.
He also gave an update about the average daily attendance figures for the district, with the actual numbers falling a bit short of the projections.
“It’s somewhere in the $200- to $300,000 range that we’re currently being overpaid,” Ballinger said. “We need to know that, for when we close the books on June 30.”
