This is a must read:

Texas school districts maintain billions in reserve funds
July 27, 2010
Sara Talbert
Texas Budget Source

School districts in Texas have a common tie right now. Many are facing significant budget shortfalls and say they are in need of funds. But if you look at their reserve fund balances, that wouldn’t appear to be the case.

Within legislative circles, there has been significant discussion about whether or not school districts should utilize more of their reserve funds – rather than asking the state for new money – when the state is facing its own budget shortfall of potentially $18 billion.

Texas Budget Source examined the five largest school districts in Texas: Houston, Dallas, Cypress-Fairbanks, Northside, and Austin. Of those, three are facing budget shortfalls of at least $7 million. Houston ISD, the largest district in the state, is facing a $60 million budget shortfall, and expects to have a reserve fund balance of nearly $207 million. Austin ISD reported an expected budget shortfall of $7.1 million, and a reserve fund balance of $120.1 million.

Read it all here: http://www.texasbudgetsource.com/Texas-school-districts-maintain-billion...

Great work, Texas Budget Source! But please note that some ISD's have been caught transferring reserve funds into other accounts to help hide the additional funds.