Due to the down voting of the Tax Ratification Election in August of 2016, the school district has made 59 changes to save money, changes that have affected students, faculty and staff  in various ways.

In 2016 the TRE was proposed by the school board which if successful would have increased the funding that schools got, while increasing taxes by about 9 percent. 59 percent of people voted down the TRE, and 59 different changes were put in place in an attempt to save $5,785,486 over the course of the school year, according to the FISD website.

“I think it’s probably in the amount of activities that students get to do outside of the school,” Principal Mark Mimms said when asked about how programs have been affected across the school. “We really have to look hard at that … so that they still have opportunities, but they may not have as many opportunities.”

Because of the different fees and fines that now have to be paid, staff and some students may believe that certain things about the budget cuts should be changed

“The thing that I would change is how it directly impacts students,” Assistant Principal Dr. Kathryn Gray said when asked what she would want to change about the budget cuts.

While Dr. Gray wants to change how it impacts students, Mr. Mimms wants to change how communication about the changes were managed in relation to parents and students.

“If it were up to me, I think communicating to our community how great their children have it in school here in Frisco,” Mimms said, “I hope over time that the community and the parents will understand just how fortunate our students are in the things they get to do and be a part of.”

Dr.Gray believes that the budget cuts are, “unfortunate” and that the administration had to get, “creative” with the budget.

“… but there are some things that directly impacted students, that was sort of the unfortunate part. Some of those things would be the pay to play … and then the pay for parking is also unfortunate because it directly impacted students and parents,” Gray said.

While Dr. Gray says that it’s unlucky how it affected students, Mr. Mimms said it was his priority to have it affect as little as possible.

“We try to put our money in the most advantageous places so that it doesn’t hurt or harm students in any way in terms of their education,” Mimms said.

Students such as sophomore Allan Sosamon seem to prove what Mimms has said about the budget cuts affecting students.

“It hasn’t really affected much of what we do,” Sosamon said when asked how it affected him in groups such as wrestling and orchestra. “There isn’t really any problems with it. It doesn’t really matter to me.”

Despite the fact that students and parents will now have to pay for things such as sports, parking, and an extra fee on My Payments Plus, the focus of the school has stayed the same.

“We may not have as much as we once did, but we are still able to meet the needs of students in the classroom,” Mimms said.