However, statewide school funding formulas have changed as a result of the recent increases in homestead tax exemptions. As a result, this year's AISD budget will need to be based on new assumptions. New approaches will be required. Retrenchment in staff will become the name of the game in the coming three years. These things have occurred.
Test scores are up.
Dropouts are way down. More and more high school students are taking harder and harder courses such as advanced mathematics and foreign languages. The major expenditures to support these achievements by students and staff have been to provide adequate staff and to keep AISD employees abreast of the cost of living, thereby maintaining high morale. Pupil-teacher ratios have been lowered significantly. During much of the past decade, AISD tax values have fallen.