9. FY2019 to FY2027: seven audited years and two budgeted¶
The earlier sections focus on the three years since the state takeover in June 2023. This section starts in school year 2018-19 (HISD's FY2019): before COVID, before the 2019 school-finance overhaul (HB 3), and before federal COVID relief (ESSER). Sources are HISD's audited reports for FY2019 through FY2025, TEA's Summary of Finances for every school year from 2018-19 to 2026-27, and TEA's actual-spending (PEIMS) and staffing (TAPR) data. FY2026 and FY2027 are not yet audited; for those years the tables show HISD's budgets and forecasts, TEA's estimates and TEA's enrollment counts, each labeled.
From surpluses to deficits¶
| Fiscal year | Enrollment | General Fund result (revenue minus spending) | General Fund balance, June 30 | GF spending per student, excl. recapture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2019 | 209,772 | +$209.4M | $819.0M | $8,228 |
| FY2020 | 210,061 | +$118.2M | $967.9M | $8,487 |
| FY2021 | 196,943 | +$20.9M | $996.6M | $9,753 |
| FY2022 | 194,607 | +$114.6M | $1,126.9M | $9,293 |
| FY2023 | 189,934 | −$20.2M | $1,127.1M | $9,996 |
| FY2024 | 184,109 | −$166.6M | $1,047.2M | $11,674 |
| FY2025 | 176,727 | −$310.6M | $748.1M | $12,415 |
| FY2026: amended budget (June 2026), not audited | 167,793 (TEA count) | −$55.6M budgeted | $730.0M (budgeted; HISD's May 2026 forecast) | $12,571 budgeted |
| FY2027: adopted budget | 164,812 (HISD projection) | −$24.6M budgeted | $729.3M budgeted | $12,226 budgeted |
Sources: HISD audited ACFRs FY2019-FY2025 (General Fund statements; enrollment from the statistical section); HISD's FY2026 Budget Amendment #2 and FY2027 adopted budget (rows in italics); TEA's fall 2025 enrollment count. Per-student spending is General Fund expenditure minus the recapture expense, divided by enrollment. Data: data/hisd_history_gf_fy2019_2025.csv, data/hisd_gf_fy2019_2027_by_basis.csv.
- Surpluses, then deficits. HISD's General Fund ran a surplus in each of FY2019-FY2022, adding $463M to reserves in total. The three deficits since (FY2023-FY2025) total $497M, more than erasing them.
- Reserves are back below FY2019. The General Fund balance peaked at $1.127 billion in June 2023 and was $748.1 million in June 2025, below the $819.0 million of June 2019.
- Spending per student rose 51% while enrollment fell 16%. General Fund spending (excluding recapture) went from $8,228 to $12,415 per enrolled student. Consumer prices (CPI-U) rose about 26% from June 2019 to June 2025, so the rise is roughly 20% after inflation; CPI is not a school-cost index. Enrollment fell by 33,045 students (−15.8%).
- Budgets beaten for six years, then missed. Each year from FY2019 to FY2024, HISD's actual General Fund result was better than its adopted budget. FY2025 was the first year it came in worse: the adopted budget planned a $131.1M fund-balance draw, and the actual draw was $299.1M, $168.0M more.
- The FY2026 and FY2027 budgets plan near-balanced years. The final FY2026 budget plans an $18.0M draw, after a one-time $46.6M property-value audit payment; the FY2027 budget plans $0.8M. Both rest on cuts (FY2027 instruction is budgeted $113.9M below FY2025's actual) and on continued enrollment decline. Neither is audited; see Section 5.
Per student, compared with the state¶
All funds, operating spending and revenue per enrolled student (TEA PEIMS actuals):
| School year | HISD spending | State average spending | HISD revenue | State average revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | $9,380 | $9,913 | $10,723 | $10,470 |
| 2019-20 | $9,719 | $10,406 | $10,497 | $10,811 |
| 2020-21 | $10,524 | $11,106 | $11,262 | $11,505 |
| 2021-22 | $11,772 | $11,941 | $13,087 | $12,502 |
| 2022-23 | $12,998 | $12,389 | $13,764 | $12,822 |
| 2023-24 | $14,337 | $12,950 | $14,452 | $13,037 |
| 2024-25 | $14,147 | $12,951 | $12,666 | $12,666 |
Source: TEA PEIMS Financial Standard Reports. Data: data/peer_comparison_2019_2025.csv.
General Fund only: budgeted and actual¶
TEA also publishes the budget each district files with it, which allows a General Fund comparison that runs one year further, to 2025-26:
| School year | HISD budgeted | HISD actual | State budgeted | State actual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | $8,618 | $7,753 | $9,368 | $8,993 |
| 2020-21 | $10,008 | $9,037 | $10,102 | $9,539 |
| 2021-22 | $10,186 | $8,511 | $10,235 | $9,655 |
| 2022-23 | $10,360 | $9,254 | $10,379 | $10,032 |
| 2023-24 | $10,859 | $10,629 | $10,901 | $10,755 |
| 2024-25 | $11,489 | $11,825 | $11,240 | $11,227 |
| 2025-26 | $12,151 | not yet published | $12,057 | not yet published |
General Fund operating spending per enrolled student (excludes recapture, TIRZ payments and debt). Sources: TEA "Budgeted Financial Data" and PEIMS actual financial data, Houston ISD and State Total, 2019-20 to 2025-26 (TEA's report server does not serve the 2018-19 budget report). Data: data/tea_peims_budget_long.csv, data/tea_peims_actuals_long.csv.
From 2019-20 to 2023-24, HISD spent 2-16% less per student than it budgeted; in 2024-25 it spent 2.9% more. Statewide, districts spent 0-6% less than budgeted. HISD's 2025-26 budget is 0.8% above the state's budgeted average.
Before federal COVID relief, HISD spent less per student than the state average (5% less in 2018-19, 7% less in 2019-20). It passed the state average in 2022-23 and was 9% above it by 2024-25. Spending on campus leadership was already above the state rate in 2018-19 ($697 per student vs $589) but grew much faster: $1,369 vs $752 by 2024-25. Instructional leadership was below the state rate in 2018-19 ($153 vs $162) and 2.1 times it by 2024-25 ($474 vs $227).
State formula funding and recapture, every year¶
| School year | Formula entitlement (Tier One + Tier Two) per attending student | Total state aid | Recapture (TEA final) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | $8,544* | $193.1M | $185.1M |
| 2019-20 | $9,404 | $99.2M | $74.9M |
| 2020-21 | $9,540 | $134.2M | $198.1M |
| 2021-22 | $9,459 | $133.3M | $186.5M |
| 2022-23 | $9,531 | $144.0M | $275.6M |
| 2023-24 | $9,863 | $280.0M | $0 |
| 2024-25 | $9,894 | $172.0M | $49.1M |
| 2025-26 (TEA estimate, Near-Final) | $11,064 | $313.7M | $0 |
| 2026-27 (TEA estimate, Preliminary, Oct. 9, 2026) | $10,992 | $283.2M | $0 |
Source: TEA Summary of Finances for HISD, latest run of each year (retrieved Oct. 7, 2026; the 2026-27 run on Oct. 12). *2018-19 predates HB 3 and is not strictly comparable. Formula entitlement = (Total Cost of Tier One + Tier Two Level 1 and 2 entitlements) ÷ refined ADA; corrected October 8, 2026 (earlier versions used only Tier Two's state-aid share and showed $8,035 to $9,964). The 2026-27 preliminary assumes HISD keeps its one-year disaster pennies (M&O $0.7048); HISD adopted $0.6754 on Oct. 8, 2026, so the figure will come in lower, roughly $10,500 by our estimate (see Section 4). Data: data/sof_key_figures.csv; notes: notes/sof_history.md.
- Formula funding per student moved in two steps. It rose $860 per attending student with HB 3 (2019), then stayed between $9,404 and $9,894 for six years. In 2025-26 it rose $1,170 to $11,064 (TEA estimate). That second step combines new HB 2 (2025) allotments with HISD's one-year "disaster pennies," which counted as Tier Two enrichment and were dropped for 2026-27 (Section 4).
- HISD paid $969 million in recapture over 2018-19 to 2024-25, by TEA's final figures; HISD's audited recapture expense for FY2019-FY2025 totals $1,061.7 million, because it books TEA's estimate at year-end and later settlements differ. The payment fell to zero after the 2023 tax-relief law: TEA's first projection for 2023-24 (June 2023) showed HISD owing $335.2M; the final shows $0.
- Recapture estimates move a lot before they settle. TEA re-issues each year's report many times (28 to 66 runs per year) and keeps adjusting "Final" figures for up to six years. Between first projection and final settlement, HISD's recapture moved by $100-370 million in most years. HISD's audited recapture expense reflects the estimate current when its books close each September, so it can differ from the final settlement; for FY2019, HISD booked $80.1M more than TEA's final figure.
Staffing¶
| School year | Teachers (FTE) | Campus administrators (FTE) | Students per teacher (state) | Average teacher salary (state) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 11,465 | 586 | 18.2 (15.1) | $54,125 ($54,122) |
| 2019-20 | 11,283 | 571 | 18.6 (15.1) | $56,340 ($57,091) |
| 2020-21 | 11,254 | 553 | 17.5 (14.5) | $56,664 ($57,641) |
| 2021-22 | 10,620 | 530 | 18.2 (14.6) | $59,161 ($58,887) |
| 2022-23 | 10,543 | 581 | 18.0 (14.8) | $64,954 ($60,717) |
| 2023-24 | 11,378 | 852 | 16.1 (14.7) | $67,073 ($62,474) |
| 2024-25 | 10,590 | 899 | 16.6 (15.0) | $73,604 ($63,751) |
| 2025-26 (HISD budget, not TAPR) | 10,199 budgeted (all funds) | — | — | — |
| 2026-27 (HISD projection) | — | — | — | $83,338 (HISD's own measure) |
Source: TEA Texas Academic Performance Reports (TAPR), 2018-19 to 2024-25; TEA has not yet published 2025-26. Rows in italics: HISD's FY2026 adopted budget book (budgeted FTE) and its May 20, 2026 budget workshop (salary projection; HISD's own measure gives $68,527 for 2022-23, against TAPR's $64,954). Data: data/tapr_staff_peer_comparison.csv.
HISD's average teacher salary was exactly the state average in 2018-19; it is now $9,853 above it and the highest of the eight large districts compared. Campus administrators fell from 586 to 530 between 2018-19 and 2021-22, then rose to 899 by 2024-25. HISD has had more students per teacher than the state average throughout.
Schools that later joined NES were already more expensive¶
| School year | Campuses that became NES by 2024-25 | Campuses never NES | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | $7,381 | $6,561 | +$820 (+12.5%) |
| 2019-20 | $7,616 | $6,758 | +$858 (+12.7%) |
| 2020-21 | $8,263 | $7,311 | +$952 (+13.0%) |
| 2021-22 | $8,834 | $7,713 | +$1,121 (+14.5%) |
| 2022-23 | $10,125 | $8,421 | +$1,704 (+20.2%) |
| 2024-25 (NES in place) | $14,288 | $9,193 | +$5,095 (+55.4%) |
All-funds operating spending per student, campus-coded (TEA campus PEIMS actuals). Data: data/hisd_campus_nes_summary.csv.
HISD's 2025-26 campus budgets, as filed with TEA, keep a General Fund gap of $4,535 per student between NES and other campuses (General Fund only; see Section 6).
The campuses chosen for NES already cost about 13% more per student before the reform, and they serve more disadvantaged students. The gap then grew from $1,704 (2022-23) to $5,095 (2024-25). That is a description, not an estimate of what NES itself costs: the gap was already widening before NES, and leaving out HISD's online school (counted here with the never-NES campuses) changes it to $1,517 and $4,876. Enrollment at those campuses fell from 91,708 (2018-19) to 69,459 (2024-25), down 24%, against a 9% decline at campuses never in NES. Leaving out HISD's online school, which grew from 5,680 to 8,641 students and is counted here with the never-NES campuses, the never-NES decline is 10% on the same campuses.
Federal money before and after ESSER¶
Total federal spending (single audits) was $345.2M in FY2018, including $29.8M of Hurricane Harvey recovery, and $325.9M in FY2019. It peaked at $836.6M in FY2023 with ESSER and was back to $389.6M by FY2025, close to the pre-ESSER level. There is no audited figure yet for FY2026; HISD's FY2027 budget materials list $177.3M of federal grant planning amounts, plus about $124M of budgeted child-nutrition revenue. The audited statements are consistent with the General Fund absorbing costs that ESSER had carried. From FY2023 to FY2025, grant-funded instruction fell $219 million while General Fund instruction rose $225 million. That shift is a major reason the deficits appeared when ESSER ended, although which positions moved would take payroll records to show (see Section 3).
Audit findings¶
HISD's audits for FY2019, FY2020 and FY2021 each reported a material weakness in financial-reporting controls. FY2019's cited board governance (during the TEA investigation that led to the takeover) and an improper year-end cutoff of about $7.2M. FY2020's cited unrecorded capital leases and goods receipts. FY2021's cited in-kind revenue and expenditures. The FY2021 weakness capped HISD's state financial-integrity (FIRST) rating at C (79) for 2021-22; the FY2020 one did the same for 2020-21. The FY2023-FY2025 audits reported no material weaknesses; the FY2025 audit reported three significant deficiencies (Section 7).