Prima Changwatchai

Westwood students experienced the impacts of class cuts resulting from Round Rock ISD (RRISD)’s budget deficit. The recently approved general fund budget could have played a role in returning some of the cut classes. “We all hope that [the general fund budget] will bring additional funding and cost savings, potentially help with course and extracurricular operations, and provide deserving teachers with an increase in salary as well as provide better education opportunities for students,” Marlene Luo ’25 said.”

Due to Round Rock ISD (RRISD)’s $31 million projected budget deficit — a continuation of a pattern of money shortages across Central Texas school districts — the district was pushed to cut some classes, affecting students’ four-year course plans. To address the issue, the RRISD Board of Trustees approved a $466 million general fund budget, which overcame the deficit but called attention to issues with allocation of funds within the district. 

“I think the [general fund] budget will definitely help with future organization throughout the year so there aren’t any more unplanned surprises,” Shuyu Lai ‘25 said. “This might have also helped bring a couple of classes back, including [IB Sports Exercise].”

In addition to forcing some students to seek last-minute alternate classes, the class cuts were detrimental to some teachers as well.

“The budget cut was super unfair towards teachers,” Lai said. “I know some classes already have a lot of people in them, which could present some challenges towards the teachers, who may be overwhelmed by having so many students in one class.”

“This was surprising because some of these courses had existed for a long time,” Marlene Luo ‘25 said. “Also, people are increasingly interested in pursuing a future in Robotics and Engineering fields. I guess because of the budget deficit, they didn’t know where to cut.”

The removal of core classes especially impacted IB students, some of whom were in danger of losing their IB diplomas. They would have had to change their schedules to meet the IB program requirements if the classes weren’t brought back for at least another year.

“I’m in the IB Sports Exercise class and I was definitely surprised when they told us that the class was going to be cut,” Lai said. “We really had no warning beforehand that the class cut was going to take place so our schedules were messed up, and we had no option but to take whatever class could give us the diploma.”

IB students select their high level and standard level courses in junior year, with the option to switch to the high level version of a course later on. However, students who didn’t have another standard level course to convert into a high level course could have lost their diplomas. They also wouldn’t have been able to take courses they were anticipating.

“It was pretty devastating,” Luo said. “We have been taking courses on the IB track since freshman year and many of the high levels that students had to switch to were subjects that would either be difficult or unnecessary for them.That’s why we were pretty upset about it at first. The classes we would have been unable to take were classes that were enjoyable or intriguing, and they were extremely relevant to [our] future. And they’ve been in our plans for the past few years.”

Frustrated by the situation, the IB Sports Exercise students who were impacted by the change, as well as their parents, formed a group chat. The group gathered passionate parent emails and sent them to the leaders in the district to advocate for change. As a result, the district brought the course back for another year.

“In these situations, it’s important to make your voice heard,” Luo said. “Especially in a school environment, parent voice definitely matters and can make a difference. It was vital for us to have this course. I think there was a chance for the course to be brought back even if the parents hadn’t emailed, since the students were also pretty upset. When we were switching courses, we told the counselor and teachers how we felt about having to switch, but I think the parent voice definitely made a difference since, after all, we’re talking about budget in the district.”

Some of the students affected by the budget deficit believe that the district should have cut classes that didn’t alter some students’ entire course plans.

“Cutting extracurriculars in the case of a budget deficit is understandable, but cutting core classes definitely makes it very difficult for students,” Luo said. “All these classes that I was hearing about were IB classes and STEM-related classes.”

According to Luo, Sports Exercise students were notified of the cuts on the afternoon of April 30, just one day before the deadline for course changes on May 1. Lai wishes the school had told students about the situation as soon as possible.

“It would’ve been better if they could’ve been able to plan out the budget prior to allowing us or offering the classes the [past] year,” Lai said. “When they told us [about the cuts], we had already selected our classes for the upcoming year. Throughout the entire process we were left in the dark and there weren’t really any updates or a heads-up for our situation.”

Students hope that the additional funding from the general fund budget will help with courses and extracurriculars, as well as provide deserving teachers with an increase in salary and provide better education opportunities for students. And although the general fund budget temporarily resolved the budget deficit, the RRISD Board of Trustees is searching for long-term solutions to address other issues, including teacher pay and increased learning activities. Board President Amber Landrum wants to support underpaid teachers.

Additionally, the RRISD Board cut the $7000 dual language stipend for non-classroom teachers in June. Some parents whose children participated in the RRISD Bilingual Education Program are pushing for teachers to regain the stipends. This issue aligns with other similar concerns, that despite the general fund budget, the district still lacks funding to support some classes and programs.

“I think that the extra money won’t bring back [some of] the cut classes and students will have to turn to clubs if they want to be involved in the cut subjects,” Akshatha Magadi ‘25 said. “[And] I guess the district can’t really add any new classes even if there is a high interest for them because they have to be careful with money.”