HISD audited actuals: Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports (ACFR), FY2023–FY2025¶

District: Houston ISD (TEA 101-912). Fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30. Prepared 2026-10-06. All files are in ../sources/acfr/ (see SOURCES.md).

Citation key. FY25 p.41 means PDF page 41 of HISD_ACFR_FY2025.pdf. PDF page numbers equal the page numbers in the .txt extraction; printed page numbers differ (FY2025 printed page ≈ PDF − 10). An "(OCR)" tag means the page has no text layer and the figure comes from ocr_fy2025/pNN.txt. All dollar figures are copied from the reports unless marked [calc], which means I computed them from cited inputs.

Auditor: Weaver and Tidwell, L.L.P. (Houston) for all three years. The FY2025 opinion is dated January 12, 2026 (FY25 p.25). The FY2025 report came out late: the transmittal letter is dated Jan 15, 2026 and cites a TEA filing-deadline extension to February 2026 (FY25 p.8 OCR). FY2026 ACFR: not yet published (as of 2026-10-06).

0. Key takeaways¶

The General Fund (GF) ran an operating deficit in each of the three years, and the deficits grew: −$20.2M (FY23), −$166.6M (FY24), −$310.6M (FY25). These are revenues minus expenditures, before transfers (FY23 p.40, FY24 p.39, FY25 p.41).
GF fund balance: $1,127.1M (6/30/2023) → $1,047.2M (6/30/2024) → $748.1M (6/30/2025), a drop of $379.0M [calc] over the first two Board-of-Managers fiscal years.
Committed + assigned + unassigned fell $501.2M ($1,100.8M → $599.6M) [calc].
All governmental funds fell $546.2M ($1,578.1M → $1,032.0M) [calc].
The press figure of "~$450M" falls between these measures. No single audited line equals $450M; FY2026 actuals are not yet audited.
Unassigned GF balance was exactly $590,067,862 at both 6/30/2023 and 6/30/2024. The "Instructional Reserve" assignment absorbed the FY24 drawdown ($264.2M → $215.6M) and was zeroed in FY25. Unassigned then fell to $464.8M = 2.48 months of GF expenditures [calc]. Board policy, as stated in the notes, requires unassigned ≥ 3 months of operating expenditures (FY25 p.59 OCR). The ACFR does not itself say the policy was breached, but on a total-GF-expenditure basis it was.
The ESSER cliff is the main driver of falling total spending.
Federal revenue, all governmental funds: $816.3M (FY23) → $779.8M (FY24) → $401.4M (FY25).
ESSER expenditures in the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA): ~$441.4M → ~$316.9M → ~$40.9M.
Recapture (the "contracted instructional services between public schools" expense): $276.4M (FY23) → $0 (FY24) → $56.9M (FY25). The FY25 figure does not match TEA's SOF figure of $49.1M for SY24-25 (see §11).
Debt fell sharply. Bonds + notes: $2,123.2M (7/1/2023) → $1,813.6M → $1,513.6M (6/30/2025). As of 6/30/2025 HISD has no authorized-but-unissued bond capacity (the 2024 bond was defeated).
Net pension liability: $709.9M → $985.3M → $767.99M.
Net OPEB liability: $355.8M → $382.6M → $502.5M.
Opinions were clean (unmodified) in all three years, with no material weaknesses.
FY2023: one significant deficiency (accounts payable).
FY2024: no findings.
FY2025: three findings. One financial-reporting significant deficiency (SHARS revenue). Two ARP ESSER III compliance significant deficiencies: an equipment inventory failure (20 of 25 sampled assets unaccounted for or not counted) and $54,626 in questioned costs.

1. Government-wide Statement of Activities (accrual basis, governmental + business-type)¶

Sources: FY23 p.37; FY24 p.36; FY25 p.38. The 10-year version is in FY25 pp.126–127.

1a. Expenses by function, governmental activities ($)¶

Function	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
Instruction	1,482,445,295	1,723,051,662	1,538,323,202
Instructional resources & media	17,405,973	14,622,709	6,784,883
Instructional staff development (curriculum/PD)	72,879,396	61,866,741	39,423,580
Instructional leadership	45,100,262	87,572,450	83,216,084
School leadership	159,095,322	212,820,052	229,399,368
Guidance, counseling & evaluation	102,772,324	86,549,574	80,801,202
Social work services	36,240,696	27,374,499	8,809,154
Health services	42,127,065	47,328,843	74,481,189
Student transportation	64,817,413	63,081,071	56,895,801
Food service	126,807,464	145,114,681	134,337,443
Co-curricular / extracurricular	37,139,862	40,057,606	40,029,492
General administration	67,632,844	67,212,911	66,188,602
Plant maintenance & operations	239,340,098	243,298,331	234,071,239
Security & monitoring	31,271,482	32,668,893	33,557,784
Data processing	84,536,654	107,334,299	52,214,950
Community services	14,222,218	15,795,831	11,814,114
Fiscal agent / shared services	3,612,568	4,476,468	4,250,433
JJAEP	579,600	583,200	583,200
Tax reinvestment zone (TIRZ) payments	72,368,633	75,544,048	56,066,884
Tax appraisal & collection	15,767,806	16,453,702	14,172,784
Contracted instructional svcs between public schools (recapture)	276,396,220	0	56,900,029
Interest on long-term debt	83,457,575	67,694,686	67,520,043
Total governmental activities	3,076,016,770	3,140,502,257	2,889,841,460
Business-type (Medicaid, Marketplace)	7,248,309	7,246,659	7,151,466
Total expenses	3,083,265,079	3,147,748,916	2,896,992,926

Curriculum development (function 13) has had no separate line since FY2016.

1b. Revenues, government-wide ($)¶

Source	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
Charges for services (governmental)	13,207,059	13,419,655	11,831,109
Operating grants & contributions (governmental)	866,332,992	905,882,287	561,463,911
M&O property taxes	1,817,671,688	1,509,641,654	1,524,874,951
Debt-service (I&S) property taxes	349,664,760	357,639,974	363,098,260
State aid not restricted to programs	129,781,577	201,534,211	151,341,271
Tax increment reinvestment zone	36,725,241	33,387,318	54,530,380
Unrestricted investment earnings	71,527,732	93,375,084	67,964,633
Miscellaneous	74,785,789	4,340,986	4,021,073
Transfers from business-type	30,000,000	14,000,000	9,000,000
Change in net position, governmental	+313,680,068	−7,281,088	−141,715,872
Change in net position, total	+295,725,945	−21,762,590	−155,942,432
Total net position, end of year	2,371,990,164	2,350,227,574	2,206,566,831
Unrestricted net position (total)	93,532,916	(172,546,266)	(484,539,292)

FY2025 beginning net position was restated +$12,281,689 for GASB 101 (FY25 p.38).
The FY2025 MD&A attributes the revenue decline mainly to "decreases in grants and contributions": total revenues fell $385M (FY25 p.31 OCR).

2. Governmental funds: revenues, expenditures, changes in fund balance (modified accrual)¶

Sources: FY23 p.40; FY24 p.39; FY25 p.41.

2a. Totals by fund ($)¶

Fund	Item	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
General	Revenues	2,154,751,784	1,982,608,752	1,940,386,056
General	Expenditures	2,175,000,800	2,149,214,679	2,250,964,487
General	Rev − Exp	(20,249,016)	(166,605,927)	(310,578,431)
General	Other financing sources (net)	20,409,368	86,733,707	11,470,045
General	Net change in fund balance	160,352	(79,872,220)	(299,108,386)
Special Revenue	Revenues	808,992,030	780,370,238	459,963,705
Special Revenue	Expenditures	803,273,145	778,582,836	477,224,076
Debt Service	Revenues	358,967,942	384,184,837	386,184,508
Debt Service	Expenditures	452,707,628	409,281,911	383,955,271
Capital Projects	Revenues	45,914,598	38,015,600	6,194,187
Capital Projects	Expenditures	41,238,985	103,860,432	38,736,820
All governmental	Revenues	3,368,626,354	3,185,179,427	2,792,728,456
All governmental	Expenditures	3,472,220,558	3,440,939,858	3,150,880,654
All governmental	Net change in fund balance	15,895,139	(221,301,731)	(324,881,876)
All governmental	Ending fund balance	1,578,140,427	1,356,838,696	1,031,956,820

HISD has no nonmajor governmental funds in FY2023–FY2025. The Public Facility Corporation was nonmajor only through FY2022 (FY25 p.129 note).

Large transfers drove the GF "other financing sources" line: - FY24: $84.0M transferred into the GF, including $70M of TIRZ funds moved from the Capital Projects Fund, plus $18.2M of insurance recoveries (FY24 p.39; MD&A FY24 p.31). - FY25: the original budget assumed $80M from property sales. The final budget cut this to $14M, and actual sales were $30,000 (FY25 p.95).

2b. Revenues by source, all governmental funds ($)¶

Source: FY25 p.129, 10-year table; FY25 values tie to p.41.

Source	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
Property taxes	2,157,325,323	1,864,110,487	1,884,862,928
Investment earnings	68,180,320	89,137,503	65,179,766
Misc. local	93,924,762	67,849,162	96,310,926
Total local	2,319,430,405	2,021,097,152	2,046,353,620
State: per capita (ASF)	109,660,859	70,931,424	101,406,956
State: Foundation School Program	23,366,522	139,019,349	56,544,571
State: TRS on-behalf (non-cash)	81,866,878	109,490,737	113,672,854
State: other	17,953,916	64,805,758	73,398,745
Total state	232,848,175	384,247,268	345,023,126
Federal	816,347,774	779,835,007	401,351,710
Total	3,368,626,354	3,185,179,427	2,792,728,456
Share local / state / federal [calc]	68.9 / 6.9 / 24.2 %	63.5 / 12.1 / 24.5 %	73.3 / 12.4 / 14.4 %
Total revenue per enrolled student [calc]	$17,736	$17,301	$15,803

2c. General Fund revenue by source ($)¶

	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
Property taxes	1,809,366,483	1,506,848,009	1,523,111,132
Investment earnings	50,872,795	72,775,580	52,185,094
Misc. local	9,603,175	5,347,301	67,369,842
State	214,953,566	319,532,249	272,139,946
Federal	69,955,765	78,105,613	25,580,042
Property tax share of GF revenue [calc]	84.0%	76.0%	78.5%

FY24 property tax revenue fell ~$300M. The cause was the 88th Legislature's compression of the maximum compression rate (MCR) by $0.1070 and the rise in the homestead exemption from $40k to $100k. The M&O rate went from $0.8705 to $0.7016. The FY24 MD&A shows the budget was cut by "$342.0 million due to the increase in exemptions and refunds" (FY24 p.33).

2d. General Fund expenditures by function ($)¶

Function	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
Instruction	1,037,292,731	1,150,954,093	1,261,908,377
Instr. resources & media	18,410,029	13,830,385	6,952,956
Instr. staff development	29,076,351	25,815,707	14,265,492
Instructional leadership	22,530,676	63,063,461	68,430,832
School leadership	162,215,725	215,392,395	234,320,097
Guidance & counseling	65,086,596	64,717,439	67,564,581
Social work	8,351,000	4,712,785	8,418,802
Health	26,671,528	24,201,089	26,031,897
Transportation	52,317,948	57,023,753	52,179,127
Food services	86,050	71,239	118,309
Extracurricular	21,005,560	25,280,790	25,759,045
General administration	41,114,014	53,050,919	51,233,688
Plant maintenance & ops	227,609,507	235,307,348	215,104,150
Security	31,396,069	32,091,167	30,520,778
Data processing	51,198,314	58,440,335	44,249,043
Community services	1,909,451	7,050,496	5,148,816
JJAEP	579,600	583,200	583,200
TIRZ payments	72,368,633	75,544,048	56,066,884
Tax appraisal & collection	15,767,806	16,453,702	14,172,784
Recapture	276,396,220	0	56,900,029
Debt service (principal + interest; leases/SBITAs)	12,901,379	18,998,183	10,163,192
Capital outlay	715,613	6,632,145	872,408
Total GF expenditures	2,175,000,800	2,149,214,679	2,250,964,487
GF exp. excluding recapture & TIRZ [calc]	1,826,235,947	2,073,670,631	2,137,997,574
...per enrolled student [calc]	$9,615	$11,263	$12,098

The shift to the General Fund under NES. GF instruction rose $224.6M (+21.7%) from FY23 to FY25 while enrollment fell 7%. School leadership rose $72.1M (+44%), and instructional leadership roughly tripled ($22.5M → $68.4M). Meanwhile special-revenue (ESSER) instruction fell from $390.0M (FY23 and FY24) to $170.6M (FY25). The overall pattern is consistent with ESSER-funded costs migrating onto the GF as ESSER expired.

2e. GF budget vs actual¶

Sources: RSI, FY23 p.95; FY24 p.91; FY25 p.95.

	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
Original budget, net change in FB	(100,769,458)	(168,539,426)	(131,118,382)
Final budget, net change in FB	(164,930,325)	(194,381,109)	(247,332,216)
Actual net change	+160,352	(79,872,220)	(299,108,386)
Actual expenditures vs final budget	$184.1M under	$78.0M under	$74.7M over

FY2025 overspend drivers (MD&A FY25 p.35 OCR): "$59.9 million over budget in instructional salary and Texas Connections expenditures"; "$12.5 million in school leadership"; "$12.4 million in recapture."

FY2024: the original budget carried $326.5M of recapture. The final budget and the actual were $0 (FY24 p.91). The MD&A lists "Increase due to New Education System (NES) implementation of $69.2 million" (FY24 p.33).

3. General Fund fund balance¶

Sources: balance sheets FY23 p.38, FY24 p.37, FY25 p.39; detail notes FY23 p.59, FY24 p.57, FY25 p.59 (OCR); FY2022 from FY25 p.128.

Component ($)	6/30/2022	6/30/2023	6/30/2024	6/30/2025
Nonspendable (inventory, prepaids)	16,488,097	26,255,559	24,549,497	21,090,776
Restricted (capital projects, i.e. TIRZ money)	0	0	70,000,000	127,389,365
Committed: contingency operating reserve	97,481,219	98,991,251	99,874,040	101,134,650
Assigned: total	348,770,724	411,754,248	262,705,301	33,713,134
… Instructional Reserve	n/a	264,213,080	215,634,981	0
… Encumbrances	n/a	117,774,619	17,303,771	3,487,287
… Insurance programs	n/a	25,000,000	25,000,000	25,000,000
… Auto/general liability	n/a	4,766,549	4,766,549	5,225,847
Unassigned	664,168,528	590,067,862	590,067,862	464,760,389
Total GF fund balance	1,126,908,568	1,127,068,920	1,047,196,700	748,088,314
Year-over-year change	+130,282,856	+160,352	−79,872,220	−299,108,386

Coverage, computed as fund balance divided by that year's GF expenditures [calc]:

	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
GF expenditures	1,992,857,365	2,175,000,800	2,149,214,679	2,250,964,487
Total GF FB, months	6.79	6.22	5.85	3.99
Total GF FB, days	206	189	178	121
Unassigned, months	4.00	3.26	3.29	2.48
Unassigned, days	122	99	100	75
Unassigned as % of GF exp.	33.3%	27.1% (ACFR: "27 percent")	27.5% (ACFR: "28 percent")	20.6% (ACFR: "21 percent")

ACFR percentages are from FY23 p.32, FY24 p.31 and FY25 p.34 (OCR).
Board policy as stated in the ACFR: "the District's unassigned fund balance at year end shall equal at least three months of operating expenditures" (FY25 p.59 OCR).

Checking the "reserves fell ~$450M under the Board of Managers" claim. The Board was appointed June 1, 2023, so the baseline is 6/30/2023. Through 6/30/2025:

Measure	Change
Total GF fund balance	−$379.0M
GF committed + assigned + unassigned ($1,100.8M → $599.6M)	−$501.2M
GF unassigned only	−$125.3M
All governmental funds	−$546.2M
Total net position (government-wide)	−$165.4M
Unrestricted net position	−$578.1M

None of these equals $450M. The claim is directionally supported, but the number depends on the measure, and any FY2026 drawdown is not yet audited.

3b. Other governmental fund balances (FY25 p.128, 10-yr; tie to the balance sheets)¶

$	6/30/2023	6/30/2024	6/30/2025
Special Revenue (restricted)	111,111,759	114,228,504	101,940,294
Debt Service (restricted)	126,657,122	123,816,823	156,388,194
Capital Projects: restricted	176,767,699	67,606,370	40,692,826
Capital Projects: assigned	36,534,927	3,990,299	1,219,845
Capital Projects: unassigned (deficit)	0	0	(16,372,653)

4. Long-term liabilities (governmental activities)¶

Sources: FY24 p.70 roll-forward (gives the 7/1/2023 opening balances); FY25 p.72 (OCR) roll-forward; FY25 p.37 statement of net position.

$	7/1/2023	6/30/2024	6/30/2025
Bonds payable (GO + PFC lease revenue)	1,973,100,000	1,670,345,000	1,378,515,000
Maintenance tax notes	150,130,000	143,210,000	135,120,000
Debt principal subtotal	2,123,230,000	1,813,555,000	1,513,635,000
Unamortized premium	80,997,645	51,546,688	45,003,038
Leases	22,375,833	12,170,118	41,434,668
Subscriptions (SBITA)	16,977,708	5,857,595	11,201,847
Compensated absences	70,774,868	72,828,931 (restated to 60,593,093 by GASB 101)	58,506,201
Claims payable	16,889,078	17,684,494	23,292,650
Net pension liability (TRS)	709,879,768	985,320,732	767,987,153
Net OPEB liability (TRS-Care)	355,822,534	382,621,558	502,451,392
Total governmental LT liabilities	3,396,947,434	3,341,585,116	2,963,511,949

Per enrolled student [calc], using the enrollment in §5c:

	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
Debt principal per student	$11,179	$9,850	$8,565
All governmental LT liabilities per student	$17,885	$18,150	$16,769

The ACFR's own "net bonded debt per student" is $10,375 / $8,808 / $6,942 (FY25 p.146). Its "total debt per student" is $11,567 / $9,437 / $9,323 (FY25 p.148). Both use different numerators.

FY2025 debt activity (FY25 pp.72–73 OCR, p.35 OCR): - $435.2M of refunding debt issued (Series 2025A $149.7M, Series 2025B, and maintenance tax refunding notes $20.555M). - $452.3M paid to escrow. - All variable-rate debt eliminated (was $190.435M). - $115.42M of bonds defeased with debt-service cash on May 28, 2025. - "As of June 30, 2025, the District had no authorized but unissued debt capacity." - Debt matures through Feb 15, 2043. - The transmittal says HISD approved "approximately $120 million in Maintenance Tax Notes" for facilities after the defeat of the 2024 bond (FY25 p.11 OCR). That issuance is not in the FY2025 debt notes.

TRS context (FY25 pp.96–99): - District share of the TRS net pension liability: 0.012572604 (FY25) vs 0.014344383 (FY24). - The state's share of the NPL associated with HISD is $938.8M. - Contributions: $72.2M pension and $13.6M OPEB in FY2025.

5. Statistical section: 10-year tables (FY2016–FY2025)¶

All from the FY2025 ACFR (unaudited statistical section). The FY2023 ACFR (p.154) extends some series back to FY2014.

5a. Tax rates per $100 (FY25 p.137; p.140; Note 4, FY25 p.65 OCR)¶

FY	M&O	I&S	Total
2016	1.0267	0.1700	1.1967
2017	1.0267	0.1800	1.2067
2018	1.0400	0.1667	1.2067
2019	1.0400	0.1667	1.2067
2020	0.9700	0.1667	1.1367
2021	0.9664	0.1667	1.1331
2022	0.9277	0.1667	1.0944
2023	0.8705	0.1667	1.0372
2024	0.7016	0.1667	0.8683
2025	0.7016 (p.140, Note 4); p.137 shows 0.7116	0.1667	0.8683; p.137 shows 0.8783
2026 (TY2025, adopted)	0.7116 (MCR 0.6322 + 5 golden pennies)	0.1667	0.8783 (MD&A, FY25 p.36 OCR)

5b. Assessed values, levy, collections (FY25 pp.135, 139)¶

FY	Net taxable assessed value	Market ("actual") value	Levy	Collected in year	%
2016	152,860,482,797	206,223,497,079	1,776,902,751	1,738,512,893	97.84
2017	165,861,644,665	218,146,974,374	1,938,101,993	1,904,734,976	98.28
2018	171,610,628,471	223,346,451,297	2,002,012,192	1,963,918,398	98.10
2019	173,923,630,109	225,614,769,174	2,039,948,464	1,999,695,187	98.03
2020	185,535,534,086	241,869,462,270	2,048,599,091	1,993,877,549	97.33
2021	196,631,674,148	254,622,445,438	2,173,577,655	2,116,422,090	97.37
2022	200,674,561,625	261,122,664,175	2,140,410,545	2,094,213,784	97.84
2023	218,175,138,362	289,410,570,643	2,224,027,089	2,160,912,769	97.16
2024	229,523,362,674	323,352,954,180	1,931,098,418	1,865,340,503	96.59
2025	233,190,075,832	326,864,555,391	1,959,305,399	1,892,588,797	96.59

Exemptions: $65.1B (FY23) → $84.4B (FY24) → $87.1B (FY25). The state homestead exemption grew from $9.16B to $22.76B to $23.18B (FY25 p.136).
Principal taxpayers, FY2025 (FY25 p.138): CenterPoint Energy $2.295B (0.98%), Chevron Chemical $761M, HG Galleria $747M, Valero $654M, BSREP 1HC-4HC $652M, and others. The top 10 total $7.97B (3.42% of AV), down from 5.25% in FY2016.

5c. Enrollment, ADA, teachers, cost per pupil, economically disadvantaged (FY25 p.156)¶

FY	Enrollment	Refined ADA	Teachers	Student/teacher	Operating exp. (ACFR)	Cost per pupil (ACFR)	Free/reduced lunch %
2016	215,627	195,544.38	12,010	18.0	1,909,369,634	8,855	75.39
2017	216,106	193,735.35	12,062	18.7	1,993,593,224	9,225	81.20
2018	214,175	194,492.28	12,368	17.3	2,354,485,916	10,978	89.90
2019	209,772	190,087.02	11,569	18.1	2,312,607,490	11,024	97.10
2020	210,061	189,736.11	11,856	18.0	2,432,515,360	11,580	97.71
2021	196,943	177,045.49	11,866	16.6	2,508,647,952	12,738	96.90
2022	194,607	170,473.34	11,192	17.4	2,760,175,438	14,183	98.70
2023	189,934	167,780.55	11,143	17.0	3,061,729,773	16,120	90.00
2024	184,109	164,053.20	11,907	15.5	2,865,717,426	15,565	79.55
2025	176,727	157,037.46	10,960	16.1	2,696,768,941	15,260	77.77

ACFR definitions: "Operating Expenditures are total governmental expenditures less debt service and capital outlay"; cost per pupil = operating expenditures ÷ enrollment.
These figures include ESSER/grant spending, recapture and TIRZ pass-throughs. For example, FY2025 operating expenditures excluding recapture and TIRZ are $2,583.6M, or $14,619 per pupil [calc].
See §11 for inconsistencies in how HISD computed this series.

5d. Teacher salaries (FY25 pp.157–158)¶

FY	HISD avg beginning	Region 4 avg beginning	State avg beginning	HISD avg salary	Region 4 avg salary	State avg salary	Pay scale (BA) min–max
2016	51,051	49,117	45,507	55,431	55,580	51,891	51,500–71,500
2020	47,742	53,229	49,868	56,340	60,292	57,091	54,369–80,309
2022	50,771	53,963	51,054	59,161	62,589	58,887	56,869–84,309
2023	54,587	58,169	53,300	64,954	64,502	60,717	61,500–87,500
2024	60,583	58,202	54,272	67,073	66,411	62,474	61,500–87,500
2025	56,238	N/A	N/A	71,119	N/A	N/A	64,000–90,000

FY2025 is the first year with a "No Degree" teacher category: 974.9 teachers (p.158).

5e. Employees by function (FY25 p.155; FTE + hourly, excluding substitutes)¶

	FY2016	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
Instruction (11)	13,763	11,226	11,656	12,603	11,063
Instructional leadership (21)	236	324	316	628	641
School leadership (23)	2,520	2,216	2,287	2,265	2,218
Social work (32)	57	361	394	55	53
General administration (41)	426	459	561	471	456
Plant M&O (51)	1,954	2,172	2,115	1,535	1,496
Total	25,001	22,081	23,098	22,156	20,532

5f. Debt ratios (FY25 pp.145–148)¶

FY	Gross bonded debt	Net bonded debt	Net bonded/AV	Net bonded per student	Total debt (primary gov't)	Total debt per student	Total debt per capita
2016	3,154,354,223	3,075,365,261	2.01%	14,262	3,232,517,797	14,991	2,184
2019	3,082,881,941	3,044,000,722	1.75%	14,511	3,314,263,215	15,799	2,137
2022	2,322,132,646	2,262,071,102	1.13%	11,624	2,533,965,138	13,021	1,605
2023	2,042,319,272	1,963,860,929	0.90%	10,375	2,250,987,159	11,567	1,425
2024	1,721,891,688	1,619,049,503	0.71%	8,808	1,836,571,815	9,437	1,163
2025	1,415,319,284	1,276,072,323	0.55%	6,942	1,566,271,515	9,323	992

The FY2025 legal debt margin is $17.10B, so net debt is 6.95% of the limit.
Direct + overlapping debt is $6.61B, of which HISD's direct share is $1.611B (p.147).
Debt service is 12.64% of non-capital expenditures in FY2025 (p.130).

5g. Recapture history (FY25 p.141, "Local Excess Revenue")¶

FY	Amount
2017	$91.5M
2018	$168.3M
2019	$185.1M
2020	$74.9M (footnoted)
2021	$198.1M
2022	$186.5M
2023	$275.3M
2024	$0 (footnoted)
2025	$56.9M

The footnote text is not in the text layer. The expense-side table (p.130) shows FY2020 $80.8M and FY2023 $276.4M, which differ from this table.

5h. Schools¶

FY2025 transmittal (p.9 OCR): 274 schools = 8 early childhood centers + 159 elementary + 39 middle + 37 high + 31 combination/alternative, plus 7 contracted external charter schools. Average building age is 46 years. The building-by-building capacity and enrollment tables are on FY25 pp.159–180.

6. Federal awards and the ESSER cliff (SEFA)¶

	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
Total federal expenditures (SEFA)	836,623,445 (FY23 p.195)	736,678,395 (FY24 p.182)	389,630,012 (FY25 p.197)
U.S. Dept. of Education total	644,274,074	594,062,010	254,378,186
ESSER (84.425D/U/W)	441,377,491 (ACFR subtotal, FY23 p.193)	~316.9M [calc], sum of 84.425 lines	~40.9M [calc]
Title I, Part A (+D, 1003)	127,821,881	167,242,527	126,638,071
Child Nutrition Cluster	137,568,498	130,387,118	124,295,373
Total state awards (SESA)	930,146	1,023,031	974,148
Major federal programs audited	Title I, ESSER, FEMA COVID PA	Child Nutrition, SpEd cluster, 21st CCLC, CTE	Title I, Title III-A, Title II-A, Title IV-A, ARP ESSER
Low-risk auditee?	No	Yes	Yes

7. Auditor's opinions and findings¶

	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
Opinion on financial statements	Unmodified	Unmodified	Unmodified (with GASB 101 emphasis paragraph)
Material weakness, financial reporting	No	No	No
Significant deficiency, financial reporting	Yes: 2023-001	None	Yes: 2025-001
Major-program compliance opinion	Unmodified	Unmodified	Unmodified
Significant deficiency, compliance	None	None	Yes: 2025-002, 2025-003
Questioned costs	None	None	$54,626
Source	FY23 pp.186–190	FY24 pp.175–178	FY25 pp.183–193

The findings: - 2023-001 (accounts payable): about $1.3M of construction goods and services were not recorded, understating Capital Projects Fund expenditures and liabilities. It is marked Complete in FY2024. Two FY2022 findings (capital-asset disposal; incorrect recording of an entry) are also marked Complete. - 2025-001 (SHARS revenue): SHARS revenue and the related accrual were misstated because the HHSC 2023 Cost Settlement report "was not provided timely to the Controller's Office." - 2025-002 (ARP ESSER III equipment): there was no physical inventory within two years. About 45% of campuses did not take part in the 6/30/2024 inventory, and "20 out of the 25 assets we selected … were either shown as 'unaccounted for' or excluded from the counts." The assets were mainly buses, band instruments and HVAC units. - 2025-003 (TCLAS ARP ESSER III, allowable costs): costs were charged after the Nov 30, 2024 liquidation deadline. Questioned costs are $54,626.

8. MD&A and transmittal narrative on the big changes (quotes)¶

Enrollment - FY23 (p.9): "Enrollment decreased from the 2021-22 school year by 5,317 students." - FY24 (p.8): "decreased from the 2022-23 school year by 5,825 students. The 2024-25 budget includes an additional reduction of 4,011 students." - FY25 (p.9 OCR): "decreased from the 2023-24 school year by 7,382 students. The 2025-26 budget includes an additional reduction of 6,528 students."

NES - FY24 (p.9): Miles introduced "Destination 2035" and the NES, with "increased salaries, incentive payments, and stipends for teachers" and support staff to grade papers and make copies. - FY24 budget (p.33): "Increase due to New Education System (NES) implementation of $69.2 million." - FY25 (p.10 OCR): "The district extended the NES model to 45 additional campuses in 2024-25, reallocating central resources."

ESSER - FY25 MD&A (p.31 OCR): "Total revenues decreased by $385 million from the prior year due primarily to decreases in grants and contributions." - Special Revenue Fund balance "decreased by $12 million … due to a decrease in federal funds" (p.34 OCR). - FY23 and FY24 budget amendments moved stipends and performance-contract costs onto ESSER: −$13.8M (FY23 p.34) and −$18.2M (FY24 p.33).

Deficit and fund balance - FY25 (p.34 OCR): "The fund balance of the General Fund decreased $299.1 million … unassigned fund balance of $464 million represented 21 percent of the total General Fund expenditures." - None of the three MD&As discusses the 3-month policy floor or uses the word "deficit."

Bond and facilities - FY25 (p.11 OCR): "Following the defeat of the 2024 bond proposal, HISD approved approximately $120 million in Maintenance Tax Notes." - TEA "extended its intervention in HISD through June 2027."

FY2026 outlook - FY25 (p.36 OCR): the 2025-26 GF budget projects a "$175.4 million" revenue increase and "$54.3 million" expenditure increase. ADA is estimated at 151,666 and WADA at 223,312. Total FY2026 expenditures are estimated at $2.121B. - Legislative changes: basic allotment raised to $6,215; homestead exemption raised from $100k to $140k; MCR cut a further $0.0194.

9. Comparison hooks for the other tracks¶

ACFR state FSP vs. TEA SOF. - ACFR FY2025 governmental-funds "Foundation school program" $56.5M + "Per capita" $101.4M = $157.95M [calc]. - TEA SOF total FSP/ASF state aid for SY24-25 is $172.0M. - The two differ in basis: the SOF is an entitlement and settle-up view, while ACFR revenue is modified accrual, includes prior-year settle-ups, and some state aid sits in the Special Revenue and Debt Service funds. - The government-wide "State aid not restricted" line for FY2025 is $151.3M.

Recapture. ACFR FY2025 expense is $56,900,029, versus TEA SOF $49.1M for SY24-25. The ACFR shows $0 for FY2024, although the FY24 original budget carried $326.5M.

TRS on-behalf. $113.7M of FY2025 "state revenue" is non-cash TRS on-behalf contributions, offset by equal expenditures. Exclude it when comparing to TEA aid.

10. Data quality and inconsistencies¶

Unassigned GF balance is identical in FY23 and FY24: $590,067,862. It ties in both audited balance sheets (FY23 p.38, FY24 p.37), so it is not a typo. Unassigned was held constant while the "Instructional Reserve" assignment fell from $264.2M to $215.6M. In FY2025 the reserve went to $0 and unassigned fell. Readers should watch assigned plus unassigned, not unassigned alone.
FY2024 committed/assigned differ between the FY25 statistical table and the audited FY24 balance sheet. The statistical table (FY25 p.128) shows committed 98,991,251 and assigned 263,588,090. The balance sheet (FY24 p.37) shows 99,874,040 and 262,705,301. The totals agree; $882,789 is reclassified.
The FY2025 tax-rate table (p.137) shows 0.7116/0.8783 for FY2025. Note 4 (p.65 OCR) and the levy table (p.140) give 0.7016/0.8683. The p.137 row appears to carry the TY2025 (FY2026) rate.
The "cost per pupil" series is not computed consistently. Recomputing operating expenditures as total governmental expenditures minus principal, interest, fiscal charges, escrow payments and capital outlay:
FY2017 matches exactly.
FY2020, FY2021 and FY2022 are overstated by exactly the refunding escrow payments ($168.8M, $49.05M, $110.5M). Debt refunding cash was treated as "operating."
FY2023 is overstated by $107.1M.
FY2024 is understated by $28.7M.
FY2025 is within $0.2M.
Recomputed per-pupil cost: FY2022 $13,615 (vs $14,183 stated); FY2023 $15,556 (vs $16,120); FY2024 $15,721 (vs $15,565) [calc].
FY2023 real property value looks like a typo. FY2023 is 227,761,078,835 and FY2022 is 207,761,078,835 (identical except one digit; FY25 p.135).
The "Total collections to date" column equals the in-year collections for FY2023–FY2025 even though subsequent-year collections are non-zero. The column is not maintained (p.139).
The principal-employers table (FY25 p.152) uses FinanceCharts.com worldwide headcounts. For example, Schlumberger shows 110,000 employees, "3.17%" of Houston MSA employment. These are global, not Houston, figures, and the table is not comparable to FY2016 (Houston Chronicle source).
The GASB 101 restatement has the wrong sign in Note 1. Note 1 says "($12,281,689)" (FY25 p.49 OCR), but the statements add +$12,281,689 to beginning net position (p.38).
There is a $7,645,000 gap in FY2025 notes payable. The FY2025 reconciliation (p.40) shows notes payable $(127,475,000), while the statement of net position and Note 8 show $135,120,000 (current portion $7,645,000).
The FY2025 MD&A contains stale or impossible statements. "Fully funded construction commitments of $8.6 million, $7.7 million … spent and $90 million in remaining commitment" (p.34 OCR) does not add up. "Remaining … maintenance tax notes … $143.210 million as of June 30, 2024" (p.35 OCR) is a prior-year figure. It says "88th Legislature in 2025" (should be 89th). The Note 15 subsequent event repeats the $20.555M tender note, dated 7/31/2025, which conflicts with the March 2025 tender in Note 8.
The FY2025 PDF on houstonisd.org is defective. About 95 of 200 pages are images with no text layer, including all the Notes and most of the MD&A. The first MD&A text page (normally "Financial Highlights") appears to be missing: PDF p.27 is the section divider and p.28 begins mid-sentence. The certificate of board reads "1 th day of [blank] 2026" (p.7).
The HISD website mislabels the FY2023 file. The FY2023 ACFR is served as Houston_ISD_FY24_ACFR.pdf and labeled "2022–2023."
Recapture figures disagree across schedules and sources.
- FY2020: $80.8M (expense, p.130) vs $74.9M (p.141).
- FY2023: $276.4M vs $275.3M.
- FY2025: $56.9M (ACFR) vs TEA SOF $49.1M vs secondary "$55.5M."
FY2023 enrollment differs between reports. The FY2023 ACFR (p.154) shows 189,290; the FY2025 table shows 189,934. 189,290 is the FY2023 "membership" figure in FY25 p.156.

11. What I could not find or verify¶

FY2026 audited actuals: the ACFR for FYE 6/30/2026 is not published yet.
Footnote text for the recapture table (FY25 p.141) explaining FY2020 "*" and FY2024 "**": not in the text layer, and not OCR'd because the page has a text layer. It needs a visual check of the PDF.
An ACFR-level split of NES vs non-NES campus spending: the ACFR reports by function only, so the budget documents are needed.
FY2025 MD&A "Financial Highlights" page: apparently missing from the posted PDF (see §10 item 11).
Function 13 (curriculum development): reported as $0 since FY2017 (FY25 p.126). The ACFR does not say where NES curriculum-writing costs are booked. They are probably in instruction or instructional staff development, but this is unverified.
TEA's statewide comparison of the FY2024 and FY2025 student/teacher ratio: "N/A" in the ACFR.
FY2025 Region and state teacher-salary comparisons: "N/A" in the ACFR.

FY2019-FY2021 (history extension, 2026-10-07)¶

New sources (see ../sources/acfr/SOURCES.md): HISD_ACFR_FY2019.pdf (201 pp), HISD_ACFR_FY2020.pdf (208 pp), HISD_ACFR_FY2021.pdf (180 pp), plus the already-held HISD_ACFR_FY2022.pdf for the FY2022 column and FY2021 comparatives. Citation key as above: FY19 p.48 = PDF page 48 of HISD_ACFR_FY2019.pdf (= Nth form-feed page of the .txt). All three have a full text layer except a few image-only pages (FY2020's auditor's report pp.23-25, which I read visually from a rendered page, marked "(visual)"; FY2021's finding page p.170). No figure in this section is OCR'd. Same auditor all three years: Weaver and Tidwell, L.L.P. Consolidated series: ../data/hisd_history_gf_fy2019_2025.csv.

H0. Key takeaways¶

FY2019-FY2022 were four straight General Fund surpluses (revenue − expenditure): +$209.4M, +$118.2M, +$20.9M, +$114.6M (FY19 p.48, FY20 p.44, FY21 p.36, FY22 p.36). Every one of those years was adopted as a deficit (original budget net change −$35.6M, −$23.2M, −$34.0M, −$82.1M; RSI FY19 p.106, FY20 p.101, FY21 p.92, FY22 p.91).
GF fund balance grew $514.2M [calc] from $612.7M (6/30/2018) to $1,126.9M (6/30/2022), then was flat through FY2023 and fell to $748.1M by 6/30/2025 (§3 above). The FY2025 level is back between the 6/30/2019 ($819.0M) and 6/30/2018 ($612.7M) levels.
Unassigned GF balance: $512.3M (FY19) → $655.1M (FY20) → $556.3M (FY21) → $664.2M (FY22) = 3.09 / 4.22 / 3.15 / 4.00 months of that year's GF expenditures [calc]. The FY2025 figure (2.48 months) is the lowest of FY2019-FY2025.
Recapture expense swung with HB3 (86th Legislature, 2019): $265.2M (FY19) → $80.8M (FY20) → $197.8M (FY21) → $184.5M (FY22). The FY2020 and FY2021 adopted budgets carried $0 and $12.1M; actual came in $80.8M and $197.8M (RSI FY20 p.101, FY21 p.92).
Debt principal fell steadily: $3,289.0M (7/1/2018) → $3,084.3M → $2,855.7M → $2,616.9M → $2,387.7M (6/30/2022) (FY20 p.75, FY21 p.68, FY22 p.69). Every debt issuance in FY2019-FY2022 was refunding/remarketing debt, not new money (see H7).
Audit opinions were unmodified every year, but FY2019-FY2021 each had a financial-reporting MATERIAL WEAKNESS, which the FY2023-FY2025 audits did not: FY2019 board governance (TEA investigation) and improper cutoff; FY2020 capital leases and goods receipts (plus two significant deficiencies); FY2021 in-kind revenue/expenditures. HISD was not a "low-risk auditee" in any of the three years.

H1. Governmental funds: totals by fund ($)¶

Sources: SRECFB FY19 p.48, FY20 p.44, FY21 p.36, FY22 p.36. In FY2019-FY2022 there was a fifth (nonmajor) fund, the Capital Renovation Fund – PFC.

Fund	Item	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022
General	Revenues	2,200,600,360	1,981,814,081	2,139,390,332	2,107,492,062
General	Expenditures	1,991,206,129	1,863,604,372	2,118,499,494	1,992,857,365
General	Rev − Exp	209,394,231	118,209,709	20,890,838	114,634,697
General	Other financing sources (net)	(3,079,097)	30,696,635	7,834,726	15,648,159
General	Net change in fund balance	206,315,134	148,906,344	28,725,564	130,282,856
Special Revenue	Revenues	383,024,258	381,676,122	358,803,707	694,171,619
Special Revenue	Expenditures	356,315,031	417,471,213	348,816,742	670,399,489
Debt Service	Revenues	283,308,996	299,501,637	316,279,642	322,260,136
Debt Service	Expenditures	515,637,853	513,609,020	404,855,587	460,688,301
Capital Renovation	Revenues	53,346,518	36,911,775	31,748,932	31,804,643
Capital Renovation	Expenditures	338,763,269	277,285,162	74,722,576	55,163,371
Cap. Renovation – PFC (nonmajor)	Rev / Exp	426,090 / 271,879	68,193 / 968,193	4,160 / 0	136 / 0
All governmental	Revenues	2,920,706,222	2,699,971,808	2,846,226,773	3,155,728,596
All governmental	Expenditures	3,202,194,161	3,072,937,960	2,946,894,399	3,179,108,526
All governmental	Net change in fund balance	(68,516,777)	(131,979,309)	(7,163,774)	128,865,481
All governmental	Ending fund balance	1,559,458,068	1,427,478,759	1,433,379,807	1,562,245,288

FY2021 beginning Special Revenue (and total) fund balance was restated +$13,064,822 for GASB 84 (FY21 p.36).
Debt Service "payments to escrow agents – current refunding" were $162.1M (FY19), $168.8M (FY20), $49.05M (FY21), $110.5M (FY22). The FY2025 statistical table calls these "remarketing of variable interest debt, not a true debt refunding" (FY25 p.130 note 1).
The FY2019-FY2020 Capital Renovation spending ($338.8M, $277.3M) is the tail of the 2012 bond program; capital-fund restricted balances fell from $453.4M (FY19) to $205.6M (FY21) (FY25 p.128).

H2. Revenues by source, all governmental funds ($)¶

Sources: own SRECFBs (pages as H1) and the FY25 ten-year table (FY25 p.129). FY2019-FY2021 tie exactly. FY2022 differs by $1-2 from FY25 p.129 (see H10).

Source	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022
Property taxes	2,024,206,276	2,010,279,432	2,115,531,365	2,114,671,149
Investment earnings	41,075,497	24,338,742	2,781,757	4,423,438
Misc. local	83,112,013	64,380,498	67,633,938	91,436,525
Total local	2,148,393,786	2,098,998,672	2,185,947,060	2,210,531,112
State: per capita (ASF)	94,244,907	60,517,457	91,895,823	95,775,051
State: Foundation School Program	227,892,870	71,137,762	111,670,653	50,889,775
State: TRS on-behalf (non-cash)	76,909,310	85,470,235	86,923,365	81,873,575
State: other	40,381,995	31,203,794	28,765,063	17,539,418
Total state	439,429,082	248,329,248	319,254,904	246,077,819
Federal	332,883,354	352,643,888	341,024,809	699,119,665
Total	2,920,706,222	2,699,971,808	2,846,226,773	3,155,728,596
Share local / state / federal [calc]	73.6 / 15.0 / 11.4 %	77.7 / 9.2 / 13.1 %	76.8 / 11.2 / 12.0 %	70.0 / 7.8 / 22.2 %
Total revenue per enrolled student [calc]	$13,923	$12,853	$14,452	$16,216

State-source breakdown is from FY25 p.129 (the SRECFBs give only a state total). FY2019's $227.9M FSP is unusually high; the FY2019 MD&A attributes the GF increase "primarily [to] the increase in State sourced funding" (FY19 p.36). Federal revenue roughly doubled in FY2022 as ESSER ramped up (FY22 p.36).

H3. General Fund revenue by source ($)¶

	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022
Property taxes	1,747,189,582	1,715,002,326	1,801,428,452	1,794,873,129
Investment earnings	19,083,204	14,027,724	2,342,077	3,341,346
Misc. local	15,082,252	9,972,928	12,241,775	19,373,978
State	399,872,504	218,933,263	295,665,220	228,667,029
Federal	19,372,818	23,877,840	27,712,808	61,236,580
Total	2,200,600,360	1,981,814,081	2,139,390,332	2,107,492,062
Property tax share of GF revenue [calc]	79.4%	86.5%	84.2%	85.2%

Sources: FY19 p.48, FY20 p.44, FY21 p.36, FY22 p.36. M&O tax rate: $1.0400 (FY19) → $0.9700 (FY20, HB3 compression) → $0.9664 (FY21) → $0.9277 (FY22) (§5a above).

H4. General Fund expenditures by function ($)¶

Function	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022
Instruction	970,793,048	996,399,361	1,081,410,519	980,058,268
Instr. resources & media	9,822,477	7,798,643	9,071,254	6,732,685
Instr. staff development	29,267,000	29,215,532	33,204,034	31,637,515
Instructional leadership	20,820,355	20,983,417	23,904,023	24,155,192
School leadership	142,326,291	149,489,190	146,408,036	146,733,334
Guidance & counseling	50,299,761	60,053,228	63,467,347	59,348,406
Social work	8,429,482	12,142,590	16,938,834	17,955,510
Health	19,312,797	21,317,891	48,100,766	31,234,756
Transportation	59,243,844	53,629,143	46,389,028	51,909,647
Food services	0	234,114	2,741,097	50,603
Extracurricular	15,549,148	16,107,773	14,536,297	16,464,559
General administration	41,097,974	32,135,554	32,663,797	37,490,457
Plant maintenance & ops	195,853,168	192,496,074	211,943,777	218,863,332
Security	22,606,971	24,179,218	27,507,090	30,024,646
Data processing	54,951,868	62,025,501	65,812,348	58,213,621
Community services	2,135,207	3,828,274	2,631,134	1,948,276
JJAEP	792,000	792,000	792,000	724,500
TIRZ payments	58,465,450	61,321,789	61,491,720	65,956,709
Tax appraisal & collection	14,990,752	14,980,471	15,517,042	15,553,451
Recapture ("Chapter 41/Purchase of WADA"; FY22 "Contracted instructional services between public schools")	265,231,840	80,843,995	197,810,414	184,470,759
Debt service (principal + interest, capital leases)	8,946,862	14,995,323	14,818,736	10,250,591
Capital outlay	269,834	8,635,291	1,340,201	3,080,548
Total GF expenditures	1,991,206,129	1,863,604,372	2,118,499,494	1,992,857,365
GF exp. excluding recapture & TIRZ [calc]	1,667,508,839	1,721,438,588	1,859,197,360	1,742,429,897
...per enrolled student [calc]	$7,949	$8,195	$9,440	$8,954

Sources as H3. The FY2021 health line ($48.1M, vs $21.3M in FY20) and FY2020-21 data processing reflect COVID-19 spending; the FY2021 MD&A says the GF budget variance was "primarily driven by Chapter 41/WADA payments and COVID-19 pandemic related expenditures" (FY21 p.30). For comparison, the same per-student measure is $9,615 (FY23), $11,263 (FY24), $12,098 (FY25) (§2d above). So GF operating spending per student rose about 52% from FY2019 to FY2025 [calc], most of it after FY2022.

H5. GF budget vs actual (RSI, $)¶

Sources: FY19 p.106, FY20 p.101, FY21 p.92, FY22 p.91. FY2023-FY2025 are in §2e above.

	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022
Original budget: revenues	1,977,345,003	1,903,085,694	1,972,054,361	2,081,127,566
Original budget: expenditures	1,996,983,851	1,923,742,406	1,991,093,833	2,186,550,176
Original budget: net change in FB	(35,600,621)	(23,201,689)	(33,988,612)	(82,076,315)
Final budget: expenditures	2,167,653,402	2,051,838,084	2,330,879,400	2,209,721,030
Final budget: net change in FB	(86,736,798)	(89,739,826)	(206,965,474)	(144,400,998)
Actual net change in FB	+206,315,134	+148,906,344	+28,725,564	+130,282,856
Actual exp. vs final budget	$176.4M under	$188.2M under	$212.4M under	$216.9M under
Actual vs ORIGINAL net change [calc]	+$241.9M better	+$172.1M better	+$62.7M better	+$212.4M better
Recapture: original / final / actual	272.4M / 274.8M / 265.2M	0 / 75.4M / 80.8M	12.1M / 136.6M / 197.8M	213.3M / 178.8M / 184.5M

Across FY2019-FY2024 the actual GF result beat the original (adopted) budget every year, by +$62.7M to +$241.9M [calc; FY23 +$100.9M, FY24 +$88.7M from §2e]. FY2025 is the first year in the series that came in worse than adopted (−$168.0M [calc]). HISD's own narratives: - FY19: "Chapter 41/WADA payments were $10 million less than budgeted" (FY19 p.38). - FY20: the year-end amendment added "$75.4 [million] in recapture payments" and transferred out to offset; GF fund balance rose "$149 million … primarily due to decreased spending during the last quarter … when campuses were closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic" (FY20 p.36, p.34). - FY21: "$61.2 million over budget in recapture due to the ADA hold harmless adjustment" (FY21 p.30).

H6. General Fund fund balance components ($)¶

Sources: balance sheets FY19 p.46, FY20 p.42, FY21 p.34, FY22 p.34; 6/30/2018 from FY25 p.128.

Component	6/30/2018	6/30/2019	6/30/2020	6/30/2021	6/30/2022
Nonspendable	11,394,093	11,893,235	14,510,708	20,562,375	16,488,097
Restricted	0	0	0	0	0
Committed	46,364,840	46,364,840	46,364,840	94,146,930	97,481,219
Assigned	165,504,729	248,407,583	251,970,374	325,593,638	348,770,724
Unassigned	389,415,008	512,328,146	655,054,226	556,322,769	664,168,528
Total GF fund balance	612,678,670	818,993,804	967,900,148	996,625,712	1,126,908,568
Year-over-year change	–	+206,315,134	+148,906,344	+28,725,564	+130,282,856

Coverage [calc] (as in §3 above; FY2022 repeated for continuity):

	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022
Total GF FB, months of GF exp.	4.94	6.23	5.65	6.79
Unassigned, months	3.09	4.22	3.15	4.00
Unassigned as % of GF exp.	25.7% (ACFR: "26 percent")	35.1% ("35 percent")	26.3% ("26 percent")	33.3%

ACFR percentages: FY19 p.36, FY20 p.34, FY21 p.28. The FY2022 6/30 components tie to §3 above. Other governmental fund balances for these years are in FY25 p.128 (e.g., Debt Service restricted $104.6M / $112.9M / $116.3M).

H7. Long-term liabilities, governmental activities ($)¶

Sources: FY2019 roll-forward FY19 p.81 (the text layer there overlays two pages; values were confirmed by arithmetic: opening + increases − decreases = closing for each line). FY20 p.75; FY21 p.68; FY22 p.69. The statement-of-net-position cross-check is FY19 p.43.

	7/1/2018	6/30/2019	6/30/2020	6/30/2021	6/30/2022
Bonds payable (GO + PFC lease revenue)	3,081,467,263	2,888,242,747	2,676,821,528	2,453,905,072	2,230,990,000
Contractual obligations	2,800,000	1,400,000	0	–	–
Notes payable (maintenance tax notes)	204,750,000	194,660,000	178,925,000	162,970,000	156,710,000
Debt principal subtotal	3,289,017,263	3,084,302,747	2,855,746,528	2,616,875,072	2,387,700,000
Premium/discount	n/a	208,960,718	184,647,567	145,211,365	105,530,671
Accretion on capital appreciation bonds	n/a	7,401,422	5,191,168	2,726,174	0
Capital leases / leases	n/a	13,598,328	52,603,995	36,340,506	40,734,466 (restated GASB 87 opening 40,366,399)
Compensated absences	n/a	42,283,238	50,216,762	59,372,181	65,649,153
Claims payable	n/a	21,328,797	17,298,186	24,688,375	17,124,418
Net pension liability (TRS)	464,672,473	674,195,407	594,268,532	556,359,739	261,676,905
Net OPEB liability (TRS-Care)	652,967,581	792,318,535	716,497,750	540,884,130	531,819,720
Total governmental LT liabilities	n/a	4,844,529,192	4,476,470,488	3,982,457,542	3,410,235,333
Debt principal per enrolled student [calc]	–	$14,703	$13,595	$13,287	$12,269

Debt issued: FY2019 "issued variable rate refunding debt with a par value of $159,945,000" on June 21, 2019 (FY19 p.37; p.48); FY2020 $148.9M and FY2021 $45.7M of refunding bonds (FY20 p.44, FY21 p.36); FY2022 issued $109.65M of refunding debt (FY22 p.36), but the FY22 roll-forward shows no bond "increases" (FY22 p.69). This is consistent with HISD's description of these as remarketings of variable-rate debt.
Net OPEB liability peaked at $792.3M (6/30/2019), more than double the $355.8M of 7/1/2023 (§4 above). Net pension liability bottomed at $261.7M (6/30/2022) before rising to $709.9M (6/30/2023). These swings come from TRS plan-level measurements, not district decisions.
The FY25 statistical table (§5f) gives FY2019 gross bonded debt as $3,082,881,941, a different definition from the $3,084,302,747 principal subtotal here.

H8. Government-wide (accrual) summary ($)¶

	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021
Total expenses, governmental activities	2,734,967,901	2,699,643,246	2,786,605,330
Recapture expense line ("WADA-Chapter 41")	265,231,840	80,843,995	197,810,414
Change in net position, total	+272,430,896	+173,814,549	+226,266,530
Total net position, end of year	1,397,490,749	1,571,305,298	1,810,636,650
Unrestricted net position (total)	(342,967,419)	(329,518,878)	(258,017,731)

Sources: FY19 pp.43, 45; FY20 pp.40-41; FY21 pp.32-33. Unrestricted net position improved by about $85M from FY2019 to FY2021 [calc], then turned positive (+$93.5M) by FY2023 before falling to −$484.5M in FY2025 (§1b above).

H9. Auditor's opinions and findings¶

	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021
Opinion on financial statements	Unmodified	Unmodified	Unmodified
Report date	Nov 19, 2019 (FY19 p.187)	Nov 13, 2020 (FY20 p.25, visual: page is image-only)	Nov 11, 2021 (FY21 p.164)
Material weakness, financial reporting	Yes: 2019-001, 2019-002	Yes: 2020-001, 2020-002	Yes: 2021-001
Significant deficiency, financial reporting	None reported	Yes: 2020-003, 2020-004	No
Major-program compliance opinion	Unmodified	Unmodified	Unmodified
Compliance findings / questioned costs	None	None	None
Low-risk auditee?	No	No	No
Major federal programs	Title I, SpEd cluster, CTE, Magnet Schools, Title III, Title II, TSL/TIF, Title IV	Child Nutrition, CACFP, ESSER (84.425D)	Child Nutrition, CACFP, Coronavirus Relief Fund, Title I, SpEd, 21st CCLC, ESSER
Source	FY19 pp.189-192	FY20 pp.192-200	FY21 pp.164, 168-171

The findings: - 2019-001 (material weakness: board governance): TEA's investigation (final report Oct 30, 2019) found the Board of Trustees violated the Open Meetings Act, acted individually beyond its authority, and broke contract-procurement rules. TEA cited a "systemic breakdown of the HISD Board of Trustees' ability to govern" (FY19 p.191). FY2020 status: TEA's Nov 6, 2019 letter announced intent to appoint a board of managers; "A court ruling temporarily halted TEA's plans … The issue is still in litigation" (FY20 p.200). No status line appears in FY2021 (the board of managers was ultimately appointed June 1, 2023; §3 above). - 2019-002 (material weakness: improper cutoff): two capital-project invoices, about $7.17M, were not accrued (FY19 p.192). Marked Completed in FY2020 (FY20 p.200). - 2020-001 (material weakness: capital leases): unrecorded capital leases of about $19.8M of assets / $18.3M payable in the Internal Service Funds, and about $35.1M in the General Fund (FY20 p.194). Complete per FY21 p.171 status table. - 2020-002 (material weakness: goods receipts): goods marked received but not received; FY2020 expenditures understated about $1.7M (FY20 p.195). - 2020-003 (significant deficiency): checks held by departments, one for about six months before deposit (FY20 p.196). - 2020-004 (significant deficiency): receivables from other governments not evaluated for collectability (FY20 p.197). - 2021-001 (material weakness: in-kind revenue and expenditures): the condition text page (FY21 p.170) has no text layer. Only the title and corrective action plan are readable: "Staff will review grant agreements and continue to provide training to ensure that in-kind revenue and expenditures are properly and timely recorded" (FY21 p.171).

Compare FY2023-FY2025 (§7 above): no material weaknesses in any of those years. This is relevant context for claims about financial-control quality before and after the takeover.

H10. Data quality and inconsistencies (FY2019-FY2022 vs existing FY2022+ figures)¶

Recapture: the FY25 "Local Excess Revenue" table (FY25 p.141) does not match the audited expense line in any year checked. Expense (fn 91; FY19 p.48, FY20 p.44, FY21 p.36, FY22 p.36; also FY25 p.130) vs FY25 p.141:
FY2017: $93.1M vs $91.5M
FY2018: $204.4M vs $168.3M
FY2019: $265.2M vs $185.1M (−$80.1M)
FY2020: $80.8M vs $74.9M
FY2021: $197.8M vs $198.1M
FY2022: $184.5M vs $186.5M

The p.141 table is on a different (probably TEA entitlement-year) basis, and its footnotes are unreadable (§11 above). Use the expense line, which is what the CSV uses. This extends §10 item 13 above. 2. FY2020 cost per pupil was misstated in the FY2020 ACFR: $11,009 (FY20 p.160) vs $11,580 in the FY2021 and FY2025 ACFRs (FY21 p.138, FY25 p.156). 2,432,515,360 ÷ 210,061 = $11,580 [calc], so the FY2020 printing is wrong. The FY2020 operating-expenditure figure itself also includes the $168.8M escrow payment (§10 item 4 above). 3. FY2022 all-governmental-funds revenue differs by $1-2 between the FY2022 ACFR and the FY2025 ten-year table: misc. local 91,436,525 vs 91,436,524; federal 699,119,665 vs 699,119,666; total 3,155,728,596 vs 3,155,728,595 (FY22 p.36 vs FY25 p.129). This is rounding; the CSV uses the FY2022 ACFR. 4. Notes payable in the FY2019 reconciliation is the long-term portion only: $178,925,000 (FY19 p.47) vs $194,660,000 total in Note 8 (FY19 p.81). The difference is the $15,735,000 current portion. This is the same presentation as the FY2025 gap in §10 item 9 above, so that item is a recurring format, not a one-off error. 5. FY2019 Note 8 (p.81) text layer is corrupted: two pages' text is overlaid. Figures used here were verified by roll-forward arithmetic and against the FY2020 opening balances (FY20 p.75). 6. Debt Service FY2022 refunding: $109.65M "issuance of refunding debt" (FY22 p.36) does not appear as a bond increase in the FY2022 roll-forward (FY22 p.69). This is consistent with the remarketing explanation (H7), but the ACFR does not reconcile it explicitly. 7. Image-only pages: the FY2020 auditor's report (pp.23-25) and the FY2021 finding 2021-001 text (p.170) have no text layer. 8. No inconsistency was found with the FY2022+ figures already in this file: - The 6/30/2022 GF components (§3) tie to FY22 p.34. - FY2021 ending GF fund balance $996,625,712 + FY2022 change $130,282,856 = $1,126,908,568 ✓. - FY2019-FY2021 all-funds revenue ties exactly to FY25 p.129. - Enrollment (FY25 p.156) ties to FY19 p.157, FY20 p.160 and FY21 p.138.

H11. Not found / not done¶

FY2019-FY2021 SEFA / ESSER totals by year were not extracted (not requested). The CARES ESSER (84.425D) first appears as a major program in FY2020.
The FY2019-FY2021 detail of the GF "assigned" balance (by purpose) was not extracted; only totals are given.
The FY2021 finding 2021-001 condition text needs OCR or a visual read of FY21 p.170.