Tarrant County College District trustees had blunt words for two outside forces complicating the district’s next budget.
At a workshop Thursday, trustees reviewed a proposed $425.7 million operating budget for fiscal year 2027, up $10 million from this year’s adopted budget.
The proposal captures TCC’s complicated budget picture: The college is enrolling more students and awarding a record number of degrees and certificates, but changes in state funding and uncertainty over property tax values are straining the district’s finances.
Like other Texas community colleges, TCC relies on three main revenue sources: tuition and fees, property taxes and state funding.
Two of them involve big question marks.
Changes to the state’s outcome-based funding formula could cost TCC $2 million by reducing extra funding tied to students who are low-income, academically underprepared or adult learners.
Trustee Gwendolyn Morrison questioned how the board should respond.
“We can’t just sit here and let people arbitrarily decide to take money continuously away,” Morrison said.
Property tax revenue is also unsettled. TCC officials said about $135 billion in assessed property value remains under appeal or protest at the Tarrant Appraisal District, making it difficult to project tax revenue.
“As diplomatically as I can say, I need TAD to get their act together,” board President Jeannie Deakyne said.
The budget uncertainty comes as TCC reverses student fee increases approved earlier this year, after Gov. Greg Abbott reiterated that public colleges and universities should not raise tuition or fees through the 2026-27 academic year.
Chief Financial Officer Pamela Anglin said the college is backing out the general fee, lab fees and course fees approved in February. Trustees are expected to vote in August on an item formally reversing the fee changes.
TCC is not projecting an overall revenue decline.
The district expects about $10 million in additional revenue next year, even as state funding drops and tuition remains frozen, Anglin said.
But the added revenue does not cover everything departments requested, which came in almost $13 million above the current budget before any employee raises. The district is weighing a 3% salary increase for full-time and permanent part-time employees, which would cost about $7.2 million, she said.
That raise is now uncertain after TCC’s latest state funding estimate dropped again, Anglin told the Fort Worth Report on Friday.
The college’s estimated state appropriation fell from about $63 million to $59 million in the latest formula update. TCC leaders had hoped to offer employees a 3% raise after giving a 2% increase last year, she said, but the district will review its numbers before making a final recommendation.
“Our hope is that we can give something,” Anglin said.
The budget pressure comes as TCC continues to grow.
Fall enrollment increased 13% from 2022 to 2025, reaching 49,393 students last fall. Spring enrollment increased 15% from 2023 to 2026, reaching 47,578 students this spring.
The college also reported students earned more than 9,000 certificates and associate degrees in spring, reaching a goal TCC had previously set for 2030.
Enrollment growth can bring in more tuition revenue and help TCC earn more state funding under Texas’ outcome-based community college finance system, but Anglin said the district faces higher costs for facilities, technology, maintenance and contracts.
Anglin said she understands questions about proposing raises amid budget strains. The discussion, she said, was meant to test whether trustees “had an appetite” for investing in employees despite the pressure.
“We can’t do what we do if we don’t have our workforce, our employees,” she said.
TCC’s heavy reliance on property taxes adds another challenge.
About 70% of the college’s revenue comes from property taxes, which Anglin told trustees is more than any other Texas community college. The district has been trying to shift more of its revenue mix toward tuition and state funding through enrollment growth and stronger outcomes.
Clearer numbers are still weeks away, with final property tax values expected later this summer.
Anglin and her team will continue to work on the fee rollback and budget transfers before presenting them to trustees in August.
“It’s really a story of ‘in spite of,’” Morrison said.
Dang Le is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at dang.le@fortworthreport.org.
The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
The Report’s higher education coverage is supported in part by major higher education institutions in Tarrant County, including Tarleton State University, Tarrant County College, Texas A&M-Fort Worth, Texas Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, the University of Texas at Arlington and UNT Health Science Center.
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