The Katy ISD board has approved a $1.15 billion operating budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year, a plan that comes with a projected shortfall but is designed to support nearly 97,000 students across 80 campuses.  KATY ISD: Superintendent talks safety, cellphones and why the district doesn’t have Ten Commandments  Trustees voted Aug. 25 to adopt the budget, which is backed by a proposed tax rate of $1.12 per $100 of property valuation. The rate remains unchanged from the 2024-25 fiscal year. The tax rate, including 72.7 cents for operations and 39 cents for debt service, will return to the board in September for final app view article

Katy ISD Chief Financial Officer Christopher Smith said the spending plan carries a $24.9 million deficit, driven by inflation, enrollment growth and a lack of recent state-funded cost adjustments. But Smith assured trustees that underspending, cost savings and other efficiencies are expected to shrink, or even erase the gap.  “As our district grows and costs continue to rise, we remain committed to being responsible with our resources, supporting our dedicated teachers and staff, and ensuring students continue to receive the high-quality education our community expects,” board president Lance Redmon. view article

The Copperas Cove ISD Board of Trustees has approved the district's budget for the upcoming school year and approved the tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year. CCISD said residents will see a lower tax rate for the seventh year in a row. The Board reportedly approved the tax rate at a special meeting on Thursday, Aug. 28, for the fiscal year that began on Monday, Sept. 1. view article

Northside Independent School District is entering its new school year planning to spend roughly $1 billion, which would mean a $38 million budget deficit. The district’s board of trustees approved the 2025-26 budget on Tuesday, after months of budget talks and negotiations over how much funding could be expected under House Bill 2, the $8.5 billion public school funding bill passed by state lawmakers in May.  Never miss San Antonio Report's biggest stories.  Sign up for The Recap, a newsletter rundown of the most important news, delivered every Monday and Thursday. view article

Putting a $495 million bond package up to voters in North East Independent School District this November — after going 10 years without a single bond election — was not a spur of the moment decision for Superintendent Sean Maika.  It was a yearlong process, he said, sparked by a 2021 incident in which the district spent $2 million replacing an R-22 chiller at Madison High School. That kind of chiller became obsolete in 2010, and Maika became superintendent at the NEISD in 2019.  “I really started to ask a lot of questions” after the chiller incident, Maika said. “How didn’t we know this needed to be done? I don’t like unexpected surprises.”    To understand exactly what the school district facility needs were, NEISD hired government contractor Gordian and put together a steering committee of community members to take inventory of everything the district owns and prioritize what needs fixing or replacing.  The findings of that study, Maika recalled, took him by surprise.   view article

Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD lays out plan to cut $16M shortfall  Eagle Mountain-Saginaw school leaders want a balanced budget by 2029 but, for now, they face a $16 million shortfall.  In unanimous decisions Aug. 25, trustees approved maintaining the northwest Fort Worth district’s property tax rate at $1.2457 per $100 of valuation and signed off on a $286.5 million general fund budget. view article

As the 2025-26 school year begins, Amarillo and Canyon ISD superintendents say new state policies are reshaping classrooms across the Texas Panhandle — from teacher raises and safety upgrades to controversial religious mandates now tied up in court. The changes bring welcome support in some areas, but also strain budgets and highlight uneven impacts between districts. view article

Katy Independent School District Board of Trustees has approved its operating budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year. The $1.15 billion budget is supported by a proposed tax rate of $1.12. The board reviewed the tax rate earlier and plans to formally approve it next month. view article

Vidor superintendent Dr. Jay Killgo says pay raises also help retain educators and attract new ones. view article

ARANSAS COUNTY, Texas — Each campus within Rockport-Fulton ISD has a Communities in Schools classroom, a local non-profit program aimed at supporting students with whatever they need to succeed. This assistance ranges from providing new backpacks to helping families pay utility bills.  Cortney Brown has worked as a Communities in Schools case manager for 5 years.  "We go out, looking to the community for donations and assistance and resources," Brown said.  One of those resources is the Aransas County Children's Coalition, which provides support services to families in the area.  Dianne Nielsen, executive director of the coalition, emphasizes the importance of programs like Communities in Schools. view article

Earlier this year, Gov. Greg Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn launched state and federal investigations into the East Plano Islamic Center's proposed EPIC City project meant to build about 1,000 homes and a mosque in the Dallas suburb of Josephine. view article

A recording points to internal coordination in a $95 million jackpot scheme. view article

Recent polling shows both President Donald Trump's and Governor Greg Abbott's approval ratings have dropped into net negative territory among Texas voters. Governor Abbott's decreased favorability is significantly linked to public opposition to Senate Bill 3, a near-total ban on THC products, which he ultimately vetoed. President Trump's approval in Texas has gone negative for the first time in his second term, largely due to Texans' concerns about his performance on the economy and inflation. view article

For weeks, the Abilene Independent School District (AISD) faced the possibility of losing millions in federal education funds, threatening programs that serve some of the district’s most vulnerable students. Among them: the adult education program, which helps learners of all ages. While the federal government ultimately released the money, AISD Board of Trustees Member Dr. Taylor Tidmore said the experience showed how quickly the future of vital programs can be thrown into question, and how deeply the community would feel the loss. view article

HUDSON — Hudson ISD will hold a public hearing during its Aug. 26 meeting for its proposed tax rates, which are expected to decrease from last year. Assistant superintendent Barrett Lankford presented the district’s proposed property tax rates during the board of trustees’ special meeting Monday evening.  The proposed maintenance and operating (M&O) rate is $.7552 per $100 property valuation, and the proposed interest and sinking (I&S) rate is $.084 per $100, for a total tax rate of $.8392. Overall, the tax rate will decrease $.037 from last year. Lankford said the proposed rates will fully fund the district for the 2025-26 school year. The board unanimously approved the proposed tax rates. In other business, Lankford presented a teacher salary schedule starting at $49,000. The board unanimously adopted the payscale. view article

Georgetown ISD teachers with three or more years of experience and other staff members will receive pay raises next school year through new state funding.  Additionally, GISD will provide raises for new and beginner teachers, and reinstate several positions that were previously eliminated from the district’s fiscal year 2025-26 budget. view article

News 10 This Morning's Olivea Herzberg chats with Temple ISD Superintendent Bobby Ott about their 10 Commandments policy. view article

Richardson ISD is implementing a new meal charge procedure that limits the amount of debt kids can incur before they receive an alternative meal. In the 2025-2026 school year, a student with an insufficient balance on their school meal account will be allowed a five-day grace period to continue to purchase meals, the district said. Elementary students can purchase meals until they reach a negative balance of $25.75 and up to $26.50 for secondary students. view article

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Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde on Monday said she is lifting a hiring freeze on central administration positions after the federal government gave billions of dollars back to public schools last week. The Trump administration announced it would release billions of dollars in grants to schools for adult literacy, English language instruction and other programs, the Education Department said Friday. Federal officials withheld $6 billion in funding on July 1 as part of a review to ensure spending aligned with the White House’s priorities. view article

Nacogdoches ISD says that they have lost around $740,000 in funding from the federal education funding freeze. They are currently allocating money to different programs but say that they will have to do budget re-allocation in a few months if the funding isn’t unfrozen. They are determined to make sure that all of their programs stay in place and are committed to student success always, according to Les Linebarger, the chief marketing and communications officer for the district. view article

The Socorro Independent School District (SISD) is on track for a financial turnaround, projecting a $7 million surplus for the next fiscal year after previously grappling with a budget deficit as high as $38 million. The district's Chief Financial Officer, David C. Solis, said, view article

The Socorro Independent School District (SISD) is on track for a financial turnaround, projecting a $7 million surplus for the next fiscal year after previously grappling with a budget deficit as high as $38 million. view article

Longview ISD has become the latest school district subject to uncertainty regarding federal funding. Recently, the district learned almost $1 million in funds has been frozen, and they’re unsure if it will come back. Dr. Wayne Guidry, the district’s assistant superintendent of finance, said the school did not learn about the loss of funds from the federal government. view article

More than a hundred Austin Independent School District employees could lose their jobs as the White House reviews billions of dollars in federal education grants, effectively holding up the release of the funding as the summer nears an end. The district said it does not have alternative funding for these programs or the staff. view article

The Trump administration’s decision to freeze billions of dollars in education funding will leave Dallas schools with a $22 million gap, according to district officials. That money covers roughly 150 staff positions, DISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said Tuesday at a meeting with The Dallas Morning News editorial board. view article

The Brownsville Independent School District is scrambling to keep $8.3 million in federal programs operating after President Donald Trump’s administration unexpectedly froze nearly $7 billion in funding previously approved by Congress. The developments on Monday came as the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to proceed with plans to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. view article

Lufkin ISD is now no longer able to access over $2 million worth of funding. Three weeks from school starting, they say they are not sure if they can provide after school care for their students. “I’m not real optimistic but I am hopeful,” said Lufkin ISD Superintendent Dr. James Hockenberry. Lufkin ISD is one of thousands of schools around the country affected by the $6 billion education funding freeze. view article

The Copperas Cove ISD Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday, July 15 approved an increase to the teacher pay scale. The trustees also agreed on a 3% raise from the midpoint for all of CCISD's administrative, clerical and auxiliary employees. With this approval, CCISD's starting teacher salary rose to $56,000, an increase of $3,000. With this increase in wages, alongside the recently approved House Bill 2, teachers with more than two years experience will receive a $2,500 increase in pay and teachers with more than five years experience will receive a $5,000 increase. view article

One of the biggest education stories in Texas in 2023 was the governor’s push to create a school-voucher-like program. And all signs point to that story continuing to be a major political driver in 2024.  At the heart of that debate is a decision about how Texas should fund education. But it’s hard to have a true debate on the topic because the state’s current school funding formula is so complicated and convoluted that very few people truly understand it.   TPR Education Reporter Camille Phillips spent a year analyzing nearly two decades of school finance data, researching laws and policies, and visiting schools so that Texans could have the information they need to have that debate. She discovered that the Texas school finance system continues to favor some districts over others — and it might not be the districts you expect. view article

Willis ISD trustees approved its 2025-26 compensation plan, the district announced July 10. The plan includes salary increases for teachers, instructional professionals, nonexempt hourly personnel and administrators, according to the district. view article

The San Antonio area’s wealthiest school districts are located north of the Alamo City, according to a San Antonio Express-News analysis of census data. At No. 2, perhaps surprisingly, is Randolph Field ISD, which is located at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph on the Northeast Side. Randolph Field ISD serves students who live on base or who have parents on active duty. Randolph trains instructor pilots assigned to specialized Air Force programs — jobs that likely are better-paid than many others in the military. view article

Hallsville ISD is looking to provide raises to teachers in addition to those approved earlier this year by the Texas Legislature. Trustees met recently to discuss the district's 2025-26 budget. A report on salary increases was presented to the board by Mary Brown, assistant superintendent of finance. view article

Lago Vista Independent School District passed its updated version of the House Bill 2 bill, which was signed into law by the governor. HB2, which the 89th Texas Legislature passed, aims to support Texas public schools by providing additional funding and resources. view article

The era of massive state budget surpluses in Texas could be coming to an end.  As the last of the federal government’s COVID-19 emergency funds are spent and sales tax revenues return to historic averages after a large spike, budget analysts say state lawmakers will have far less wiggle room when it comes to funding their spending priorities.    “I don’t think we’re in any kind of crisis, but I think the days of big budget surpluses are probably over,” said Bill King, a fellow in public finance for Rice University’s Baker Institute of Public Policy. “We’re going to be very careful how we spend money.”  In addition to federal pandemic aid, sales tax revenues from inflation and a post-lockdown economic rebound led to state budget surpluses. Texas lawmakers leaned on a $33 billion surplus in 2023 to pay for an $18 billion property tax-cut package, a $5 billion infusion for the new Texas Energy Fund and a host of infrastructure projects. Lawmakers entered this year’s legislative session with a $24 billion surplus, which helped to maintain previous tax-cuts; upgrade energy, water and broadband infrastructure; and cover other new spending items in the upcoming two-year budget cycle. view article