Georgetown ISD's Board of Trustees approved new school start times for next school year as part of a nearly $1 million cost-saving measure.
The schedule includes earlier start times for the district's elementary and high schools. Middle schools will start later.
"When you have enough of a gap between elementary and middle and high school, that allows for the same bus to drive a route for all three levels of school," Georgetown ISD Superintendent Devin Padavil said. "By spreading out with about 45 to 50 minutes between each level of schooling, we're able to reduce bus routes, which saves us close to a million dollars."
Right now, the district operates on a schedule that includes 60 minutes between elementary and high school start times, and 20 minutes between high school and middle school start times.
"The 20 minutes between high school and middle school is what creates those inefficiencies," Clint Pruett, Georgetown ISD's executive director of support services, told trustees at the Feb. 2 meeting where the changes were finalized.
Pruett said most bus routes are only able to service two schools — either an elementary and a high school, or an elementary and a middle school. Very few are able to serve all three tiers of schools.
Each route, he said, costs between $70,000 and $80,000 to operate.
"You can see the potential savings are considerable if we're able to implement a balanced three tier system," Pruett said.
Padavil said by adopting the new schedule and reducing bus routes, the district will be in a better position to offer teacher and staff raises as leadership work to shape next year's budget.
"We're carrying a balanced budget into 2026-27, but that doesn't allow us to increase teacher pay," he said. "In order to increase teacher pay, I have to lead the district in essentially eliminating more expenses or going with the deficit budget — there's no more new revenue coming in."
Padavil also recently announced he is delaying the opening of two new schools originally slated to open in August until 2027, citing slower-than-anticipated enrollment growth.
"When we look at student enrollment, it's pretty much tapering off in Central Texas because of the state of economy and homeowner interest rates, everything's staying real stable, and so school districts are having to make tough decisions in a competitive market if they want to increase teacher pay," he said.
David DeMatthews, a professor in the department of educational leadership and policy at The University of Texas at Austin, helps train superintendents and district administrators.
"In a lot of districts across the state, people are looking everywhere to tighten their belts because there's just not enough money, given the cost that districts have," he said. "So it might sound like saving a small percentage of the budget is not a big deal, but I think they're looking every single place that they can."
Saving a million dollars might not seem like a big deal when you consider the overall budget of the school district, DeMatthews said, but "a million dollars is 10 teacher salaries. Every bit counts."
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