Houston Independent School District¶
| Level | school district |
| Part of | Texas |
| Seat | Houston |
| Governing body | Board of Managers (state-appointed by the Texas Education Agency since June 1, 2023, with the intervention extended through June 2027); normally an elected nine-member Board of Education |
| Fiscal year | July 1 to June 30 |
| Official websites | https://www.houstonisd.org/, https://www.houstonisd.org/our-district/budget-financial-planning |
| Repository | https://github.com/govspends/us-tx-districts-houston-isd |
Investigations
| Investigation | Status | Headline |
|---|---|---|
| Houston ISD: funding and spending, FY2019-FY2027 | Second edition, 2026-10-08 (history back to FY2019; labeled budget and forecast figures through FY2027); independently reviewed 2026-10-08 and rechecked 2026-10-12, corrections applied | After four General Fund surpluses (FY2019-FY2022), HISD ran $497 million of deficits in FY2023-FY2025 and its reserves fell below the FY2019 level; per-student state formula funding did not fall, and the state's larger share since 2023 is mostly tax-compression backfill that also ended HISD's recapture payments ($969 million over 2018-19 to 2024-25). |
Houston ISD is Texas's largest school district by enrollment, serving roughly 167,000 students across 274 schools. It is governed by a state-appointed Board of Managers: the Texas Education Agency took over the district's governance on June 1, 2023, replacing the elected nine-member Board of Education, after years of a low academic accountability rating at one campus and findings of governance misconduct by the prior elected board. TEA has since extended the intervention through June 1, 2027. The district's budget and financial planning office prepares its annual budget, adopted by the Board of Managers each June; HISD's Controller's Office publishes its audited financial statements. Like all Texas school districts, HISD is funded through the state's Foundation School Program formula (administered by TEA) plus local property taxes, and — because HISD's local property wealth per student exceeds the state-set entitlement in most years — is subject to "recapture," under which some of its local tax revenue is sent to the state for redistribution to property-poor districts.