HISD adopted budgets: FY2024-25, FY2025-26, FY2026-27¶
Track: HISD's own ADOPTED (budgeted) figures, plus HISD's in-year amendments.
- Audited ACTUALS are in
notes/acfr.md. - TEA formula data are in
notes/tea_peims.mdanddata/hisd_sof_trend.md. - Federal and debt material is in
notes/federal_debt.md.
The fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30. "FY25" = 2024-25.
Source files are in sources/budget/ (see SOURCES.md). Cites take the form (file-abbrev, PDF page). Abbreviations:
| Abbrev | File |
|---|---|
| B25 | 2024-25_HISD_Adopted_Budget_Book.pdf |
| B26 | 2025-26HISD-AdoptedBudgetBookforpublication.pdf |
| S25 / W25 | FY25 adopted schedule / FY25 web posting by function (2024-2025_Adopted_Budget.pdf / 2024-2025_Budget_Summary_by_Function_-Adopted.pdf) |
| S26 / W26 | FY26_-Financial_Schedules_v2.pdf / 2025-2026-_Web_Posting_for_Adopted_Budget.pdf |
| S27 / W27 | FY27ProposedBudgetScheduleFinal.pdf / 2026-27-WebPostingforAdoptedBudget62526.pdf |
| N27 | FY27 Notice of Public Meeting (budget and tax rate) |
| P25 / P26 | adoption-night presentations (Jun 13 2024 / Jun 12 2025) |
| A25-Dec, A25-Jun, A26-1, A26-2 | budget amendments |
| WS-May24, WS-Jun24, WS-Feb25, WS-Apr25, WS-May1-25, WS-May22-25 | PDF workshop decks |
| WS-Apr26, WS-May26 | pptx workshop decks (cited by slide) |
Labels:
- (OCR) = read from the FY26 book's image-only pages by tesseract.
- (OCR, verified) = also checked by eye against the rendered page.
- [calc] = my arithmetic.
- SECONDARY = press claim, not independently fetched.
0. Headline numbers¶
| FY25 adopted | FY26 adopted | FY27 adopted | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date adopted by Board of Managers | Jun 13 2024 (W25 p1) | Jun 12 2025 (W26 p1) | Jun 25 2026 (W27 p1; vote moved from Jun 11) |
| All 3 adopted funds: revenue | $2,424,088,433 | $2,619,233,373 | $2,521,041,528 |
| All 3 adopted funds: appropriations | $2,621,464,360 | $2,664,315,637 | $2,589,928,763 |
| All funds: revenue − expenditure (before other sources) | ($197,375,927) | ($45,082,264) | ($68,887,235) |
| General Fund revenue | $1,888,577,811 | $2,082,033,202 | $1,990,447,057 |
| General Fund expenditures | $2,100,290,919 | $2,121,893,114 | $2,015,007,011 |
| GF operating deficit (rev − exp) | ($211,713,108) | ($39,859,912) | ($24,559,954) |
| GF other sources, net (property sales, transfers) | +$80,594,726 | +$25,176,073 | +$23,769,073 |
| GF budgeted net change in fund balance | ($131,118,382) | ($14,683,839) | ($790,881) |
| GF est. ending fund balance (as adopted) | $801,569,427 | $785,180,647 | $729,251,497 |
| Total tax rate per $100 (M&O + I&S) | $0.8683 (0.7016 + 0.1667) | $0.8783 (0.7116 + 0.1667) | $0.8421 (0.6754 + 0.1667), proposed in N27 and adopted Oct 8 2026 (HISD Legistar file 26-346, status Passed, effective Oct 9 2026; sources/budget/legistar_26-346_tax_rate_2026.html) |
Sources for the table above:
- Revenue, appropriations, and the all-funds gap: web postings W25/W26/W27 p1. These tie exactly to the GF + Debt Service + Nutrition sums in S25/S26/S27 [calc].
- GF rows: S25, S26, S27.
- Tax rates: B25 p19, B26 p21, B26 p123, N27.
Notes on the headline table:
- Only three funds are adopted. Texas law requires board adoption, by function, only for the General, Debt Service and Nutrition (Food Service) funds (B25 p7, p86). Special Revenue (federal grants), Capital Projects and internal service funds are not in the adopted totals. The Capital Renovation Fund appears "informational only" (B25 p36).
- Press "$24.5M / $24.6M deficit" for FY27 = GF revenue − GF expenditure. That is ($24,559,954) (S27).
- Press "$791,000 draw" for FY27 = the net change after property sales and transfers. That is ($790,881) (S27).
- Press "~$2B budget" = GF expenditures. FY27 GF expenditures are $2.015B; including the $22.2M transfers-out gives $2.037B (WS-May26 slide 13).
- Budget vs actual: FY25 GF actual expenditures were $2.25B against a $2.10B adopted and a $2.176B final budget. See
notes/acfr.md§2 and §7 below.
1. Appropriations by fund (adopted)¶
| Fund | FY25 | FY26 | FY27 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Fund (199) | 2,100,290,919 | 2,121,893,114 | 2,015,007,011 | S25, S26, S27 |
| Debt Service | 374,371,606 | 397,003,334 | 444,356,039 | same |
| Nutrition Services | 146,801,835 | 145,419,189 | 130,565,713 | same |
| Total adopted | 2,621,464,360 | 2,664,315,637 | 2,589,928,763 | W25/W26/W27 |
| GF transfers out (not in totals) | 16,405,274 | 19,823,927 | 22,230,927 | S25/S26/S27 |
| Memo: Capital Renovation Fund (informational, not adopted) | 31,226,200 exp + 4,762,500 transfers out | n/a | n/a | B25 p36 |
| Memo: federal grant planning amounts (Special Revenue, not adopted) | ESSA grants $190,378,484; ESSER $0 (was $323.9M in FY24) | not found | $177,307,738 (Title I $112.7M, IDEA-B $37.6M, Title II $9.9M, Title IV $7.9M, Title III $5.8M, Perkins $2.8M, IDEA preschool $0.6M) | WS-May24 p24; WS-May26 slide 11 |
| Memo: FY27 TEA "1882 partnership" pass-through, budgetary entry only (Fund 420/194) | – | – | $25,232,983 | S27 footnote (2) |
Debt Service and Nutrition detail¶
Debt Service revenue:
| FY25 | FY26 | FY27 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local | 371,396,035 | 374,083,733 | 383,039,437 |
| State | 17,168,780 | 15,665,576 | 16,484,589 |
- FY27 debt service = $384,380,000 principal + $59,976,039 interest (S27).
- FY27 Debt Service fund runs an ($44.8M) operating deficit, covered by $26.1M in transfers and a $4.8M refunding premium. The DS fund balance goes 187.2M → 173.2M (S27).
- Outstanding bonded principal: $1,305,190,000 (N27).
- The November 2024 $4.4B bond failed (B26 p14 OCR).
Nutrition revenue:
| FY25 | FY26 | FY27 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal | 138,503,473 | 136,992,532 | 123,951,771 |
| Total | 146,945,807 | 147,450,862 | 131,070,445 |
FY26 Nutrition was later amended to a ($12.8M) deficit (A26-2).
2. General Fund revenue by source (adopted)¶
| FY25 adopted | FY26 adopted | FY27 adopted | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property taxes (current levy, GF/M&O) | 1,537,963,135 (B25 p110); schedule "property taxes" 1,536,186,790 (B25 p87) | 1,563,545,630 (S26) | n/a (S27 gives local only) |
| Prior-year taxes, penalty and interest, in-lieu | −17,776,345 / 16,000,000 / 642,764 | −17,540,712 / 16,000,000 / 642,764 (B26 p114 OCR) | – |
| Investment earnings | 60,624,859 | 43,500,000 | – |
| Revenue from other governments (TIRZ etc.) | 39,500,000 | 32,500,000 | – |
| Other local (rentals, misc., insurance) | 6,227,572 [calc] | 6,327,572 [calc] | – |
| Total local | 1,643,181,985 | 1,645,873,202 | 1,604,861,362 |
| State: Foundation School Program | 55,556,632 | 238,160,263 (B26 p114 OCR; but the narrative on B26 p88 says "$110.5 million"; see §8) | – |
| State: Available School Fund (per capita) | 65,628,824 ($400/student) | 73,229,737 ($465/student) | +$2.9M assumed (WS-May26 slide 14) |
| State: TRS on-behalf (pass-through) | 103,000,000 | 103,000,000 | – |
| State: other | 110,000 | 110,000 | – |
| Total state | 224,295,456 | 414,500,000 | 364,725,695 |
| Federal: TEA indirect cost | 14,500,000 | 15,000,000 | – |
| Federal: other (BABs subsidy, ROTC, direct) | 6,600,370 | 6,660,000 | – |
| Total federal | 21,100,370 | 21,660,000 | 20,860,000 |
| Total GF revenue | 1,888,577,811 | 2,082,033,202 | 1,990,447,057 |
| Other sources: sale of property | 80,000,000 | 20,000,000 | 35,000,000 |
| Other sources: transfers in (Medicaid/SHARS etc.) | 17,000,000 | 25,000,000 | 11,000,000 |
| Recapture (budgeted as GF function 91 expense) | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| GF mix: local / state / federal [calc] | 87.0% / 11.9% / 1.1% | 79.1% / 19.9% / 1.0% | 80.6% / 18.3% / 1.0% |
Sources for the table:
- FY25 lines: B25 p110 ("Comparison of Revenues").
- FY26 lines: B26 p114 (OCR) and S26.
- FY27 totals: S27. FY27 line detail is not published: no FY27 book yet.
Where the "74% local / 14% state / 12% federal" claim comes from¶
The press attributes this split to the GF. It is actually HISD's own all-funds chart, which includes the federal grants:
- The split appears as chart 3 in WS-Apr26, "Sources of Revenue."
- It can be reproduced exactly from FY27 all-funds revenue plus the $177.3M of federal grants: local $1,994.5M (73.9%), state $381.7M (14.1%), federal $144.8M + $177.3M (11.9%) [calc].
- On a General Fund basis, federal money is only about 1% and state about 18%.
Formula revenue as budgeted by HISD¶
| FY25 adopted | FY26 adopted | |
|---|---|---|
| Tier I cost | 1,453,519,835 | 1,472,097,943 |
| Local Fund Assignment | (1,542,262,619) | (1,527,158,842) |
| Tier II | 30,009,751 | 25,667,846 |
| Other programs | 25,670,452 | 84,804,873 |
| ASF | 65,628,824 | 73,229,737 |
| Total FSP state aid | 121,309,027 | 183,702,456 |
| Local M&O property tax (incl. TIRZ) | 1,520,186,790 | 1,530,316,488 |
| Total formula funding | 1,641,495,817 | 1,714,018,944 |
| Recapture | 0 | 0 |
Sources: B25 p120; B26 p124 (OCR).
- Compare TEA's SOF (
data/hisd_sof_trend.md): total FSP/ASF state aid of $172.0M (SY24-25 final) and $313.7M (SY25-26 near-final). HISD's budgets under-estimated state aid in both years. - ADA/WADA assumptions:
- FY25: "ADA of 179,592, WADA 234,346.638" (B25 p18). Flag: 179,592 is HISD's enrollment figure (B25 p38); TEA's final refined ADA was 156,871.
- FY26: ADA 151,666, WADA 223,312 (B26 p20 OCR).
- FY27: projected enrollment 164,812 (a loss of 4,000), attendance rate 94.3%, WADA 216,300, Basic Allotment $6,215, assessed value $232.6B (WS-May26 slide 8).
3. General Fund expenditures by TEA function (adopted, plus amended where useful)¶
| Fn | Function | FY25 adopted | FY25 final amended (Jun 2025) | FY26 adopted | FY26 amended #2 (Jun 2026) | FY27 adopted | FY27 vs FY26 adopted [calc] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Instruction | 1,210,229,232 | 1,202,028,014 | 1,244,558,642 | 1,242,265,908 | 1,148,040,067 | −96,518,575 |
| 12 | Instructional resources/media | 8,631,004 | 7,533,634 | 6,452,762 | 5,184,480 | 5,059,621 | −1,393,141 |
| 13 | Curriculum/staff development | 19,835,299 | 16,558,653 | 14,082,957 | 12,713,049 | 10,669,615 | −3,413,342 |
| 21 | Instructional leadership | 74,022,287 | 67,230,988 | 71,949,719 | 77,074,342 | 79,557,300 | +7,607,581 |
| 23 | School leadership | 215,100,035 | 221,800,900 | 225,426,329 | 217,307,577 | 215,400,326 | −10,026,003 |
| 31 | Guidance/counseling/evaluation | 67,792,313 | 66,092,313 | 58,115,936 | 58,785,248 | 56,597,969 | −1,517,967 |
| 32 | Social work | 6,869,543 | 6,869,543 | 2,905,997 | 2,228,592 | 2,546,968 | −359,029 |
| 33 | Health services | 25,338,108 | 24,638,108 | 26,134,103 | 23,173,706 | 24,494,267 | −1,639,836 |
| 34 | Student transportation | 43,811,360 | 53,482,293 | 38,336,368 | 52,799,353 | 50,424,755 | +12,088,387 |
| 35 | Food services (GF portion) | 65,183 | 131,632 | 23,441 | 181,891 | 68,900 | +45,459 |
| 36 | Extracurricular | 23,339,723 | 27,223,366 | 23,734,834 | 23,611,966 | 22,567,751 | −1,167,083 |
| 41 | General administration | 54,348,154 | 51,651,348 | 59,990,522 | 51,702,667 | 52,226,155 | −7,764,367 |
| 51 | Facilities maintenance & operations | 179,934,816 | 217,948,329 | 190,550,216 | 181,175,146 | 196,948,263 | +6,398,047 |
| 52 | Security & monitoring | 30,054,915 | 30,157,939 | 33,393,427 | 33,419,485 | 35,579,566 | +2,186,139 |
| 53 | Data processing | 49,417,461 | 49,356,090 | 44,798,974 | 42,125,123 | 42,549,020 | −2,249,954 |
| 61 | Community services | 9,812,291 | 7,812,291 | 7,088,134 | 5,692,561 | 6,839,219 | −248,915 |
| 71 | Debt service (GF) | 5,130,350 | 7,030,350 | 120,000 | 1,020,000 | 0 | −120,000 |
| 81 | Facilities acquisition/construction | 0 | 1,268,646 | 15,819 | 3,993,633 | 33,011 | +17,192 |
| 91 | Recapture (contracted instr. svcs between schools) | 0 | 44,468,370 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 95 | JJAEP | 792,000 | 692,000 | 792,000 | 792,000 | 792,000 | 0 |
| 97 | Payments to TIRZ | 57,155,963 | 56,066,884 | 53,509,290 | 54,247,082 | 44,698,594 | −8,810,696 |
| 99 | Appraisal district / other intergov. | 18,610,882 | 16,190,000 | 19,913,644 | 19,914,462 | 19,913,644 | 0 |
| Total GF | 2,100,290,919 | 2,176,231,690 | 2,121,893,114 | 2,109,408,270 | 2,015,007,011 | −106,886,103 (−5.0%) |
Sources by column:
- FY25 adopted: S25.
- FY25 final amended: A25-Jun.
- FY26 adopted: S26.
- FY26 amended #2: A26-2.
- FY27 adopted: S27.
Notes:
- FY27 changes: the deltas match the press (SECONDARY, Community Impact): Instruction −$96.5M, Transportation +$12.1M, School leadership −$10.0M, General admin −$7.9M (the press figure includes the separate public-notice and lobbying lines), Instructional leadership +$7.6M.
- Lobbying line (fn 41): FY25 $200,000; FY26 $150,000; FY27 $3,473. Required public notices: $105,000 / $182,953 / $182,953 (W25, W26, W27).
- Intermediate FY25 amendment (Dec 2024): raised GF appropriations to $2,225,765,872, including $56,969,146 of recapture (A25-Dec).
Recapture by source¶
| Source | Amount |
|---|---|
| FY25 adopted | $0 |
| Dec-2024 amendment | $56,969,146 |
| Final amendment | $44,468,370 |
| HISD unaudited actual shown in B26 | $56,900,029 (B26 p32, OCR, verified; the ACFR agrees, see notes/acfr.md) |
| TEA SOF | $49.1M |
| WS-May1-25 / WS-May22-25 p13 | "57.0M" in FY25 |
| FY26 and FY27 budgets | $0 |
Unreconciled: the three FY25 figures ($44.5M final budget, $49.1M TEA, $56.9M actual) are not explained in any budget document.
4. General Fund expenditures by object¶
| Object | FY24 final budget | FY25 adopted | FY25 actual (unaudited, per B26) | FY26 adopted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6100 Payroll | 1,665,195,405 | 1,681,276,681 | 1,741,687,484 | 1,683,040,279 |
| 6200 Contracted services (incl. recapture, TIRZ is 6400) | 216,533,922 | 215,211,753 | 336,922,944 | 272,274,779 |
| 6300 Supplies & materials | 49,382,643 | 81,088,801 | 44,190,379 | 60,688,365 |
| 6400 Other operating (incl. TIRZ) | 113,449,545 | 109,824,897 | 90,440,442 | 99,110,394 |
| 6500 Debt service | 18,978,183 | 5,130,350 | 5,693,775 | 120,000 |
| 6600 Capital outlay | 85,471,332 | 7,758,437 | 29,764,517 | 6,659,297 |
| 8900 Other uses (transfers out) | 16,395,650 | 16,405,274 | 16,215,400 | 19,823,927 |
| Total (incl. transfers out) | 2,165,406,680 | 2,116,696,193 | 2,264,914,941 | 2,141,717,041 |
| Payroll share of GF expenditures [calc] | 76.9% | 79.4% (B25 p16 states 79.4%) | 76.9% | 78.6% |
Sources and caveats:
- FY24 final and FY25 adopted: B25 p22.
- FY25 actual and FY26 adopted: B26 p24 (OCR). The FY26 column sums correctly [calc]. The B26 p24 header mislabels FY23-FY25 as "Budget"; they are actuals.
- FY27: object detail is NOT published (no FY27 budget book yet).
- Function × object detail: FY25 adopted is in B25 pp28-31. FY26 adopted and FY25 actual are in B26 pp30-33 (OCR).
- Selected FY26 adopted payroll by function: Instruction $1,106.8M; School leadership $206.9M; Instructional leadership $64.7M; FMO $69.5M; Transportation $31.6M; General admin $43.7M.
- Selected FY26 adopted contracted services by function: Instruction $95.7M (includes contracted charters / Texas Connections); FMO $84.0M; Data processing $21.9M.
GF by "Chief" (organizational allocation, incl. transfers)¶
| Unit | FY25 adopted (B25 p22) | FY26 adopted (B26 p24 OCR) |
|---|---|---|
| Four school divisions (Central / North / South / West) | $1,440.1M (68%) | $1,443.5M (67%) |
| Chief Financial Officer | $293.5M | ~15% (row illegible in OCR) |
| Chief Academic Officer | $111.9M | $120.4M |
| Facilities | $80.7M | $90.5M |
| Technology / Information | $48.6M | $38.9M |
| Police | $27.0M | $30.7M |
| Total | $2,116.7M | $2,141.7M |
The FY25 division detail is Central $388.0M, North $277.0M, South $322.2M, West $452.9M.
5. Deficit, use of fund balance, reserves¶
General Fund fund balance as adopted, as re-estimated, and as audited¶
| FY25 | FY26 | FY27 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beginning FB as adopted | 932,687,809 (est., S25) | 799,864,486 (S26) | 730,042,378 (S27) |
| Beginning FB as later restated | 1,047,196,700 (B25 p31; ACFR 6/30/24) | 748,088,314 (ACFR 6/30/25; A26-1). B26 p33 had shown 750,353,261 unaudited (OCR, verified) | – |
| Budgeted net change | (131,118,382) | (14,683,839) | (790,881) |
| Ending FB as adopted | 801,569,427 | 785,180,647 | 729,251,497 |
| Ending FB per final amendment | 799,864,486 (A25-Jun; budgeted net change −247.3M) | 730,042,378 (A26-2; net change −18.0M) | – |
| Actual ending FB (audited) | 748,088,314 (notes/acfr.md; actual net change −$299.1M) |
not yet audited | – |
Reserve benchmarks in HISD's own documents¶
- 3-month benchmark:
- Board policy CE(Local) is a 3-month operating reserve, "~$525M"; the GFOA 2-month standard is "~$350M" (WS-Feb25 p10).
- WS-Apr26 chart 1 shows a "Fund Balance 3 Months" line of $548M (FY25), $525M (FY26), $518M (FY27). The same chart has "Finance Actual/Projections" of $1,047M (FY24), $748M (FY25), $752M (FY26), $753M (FY27).
- Alvarez & Marsal ("A&M") no-action projection in the same chart: FB of $548M (FY25) and $252M (FY26). Leadership uses this to show the cuts avoided depletion.
- Months of GF expenditures covered by total GF FB, on adopted budgets [calc]:
| Budget | Months | Days |
|---|---|---|
| FY25 adopted | 4.6 | 139 |
| FY26 adopted | 4.4 | 135 |
| FY26 amended | 4.2 | 126 |
| FY27 adopted | 4.3 | 132 |
For comparison, FY23's actual $1,127M is about 6.2 months against WS-Apr26's FY23 3-month line of $544M [calc].
- On an unassigned-only basis, the ACFR gives 2.48 months at 6/30/25 (notes/acfr.md).
- Press claim "reserves fell ~$450M, ~7 months → ~3 months" (SECONDARY): roughly consistent but loosely defined.
- The total FB fall FY23→FY25 is $379M (ACFR). FY23→FY27 adopted is $398M [calc].
- "~3 months" matches unassigned FB or HISD's 3-month line, not total FB.
- FY27 tax notice M&O fund balance: $558,903,003 at end of FY26. This is net of the cash needed before the first state aid payment. The I&S balance is $91,832,151 (N27).
- FY25 policy statements:
- "Going forward the district will maintain a minimum of $800 million in the fund balance … four months of district operating costs" (B25 p6).
- The FY26 assumption was "not dipping below an $800 million fund balance" (WS-Feb25 p15). Both were breached: actual FB was $748M at 6/30/25.
Deficit drivers HISD itself cited¶
- FY25:
- End of ESSER: $323.9M of ESSER in FY24 → $0 in FY25 (WS-May24 p24).
- Property tax revenue fell $351.9M vs FY24's original budget because of state compression and higher homestead exemptions. This was offset by the end of recapture: FY24's original budget had $326.5M of recapture and FY25 had $0 (B25 p6, p110).
- NES expansion to 130 schools.
- FY26: the adoption bridge (P26 p13-15).
- Revenue +$175.4M: Basic Allotment and entitlements +$83.9M; Teacher Retention Allotment +$36.6M; Allotment for Basic Costs +$18.3M; Support Staff Retention +$6.3M; School Safety +$6.6M.
- Cuts −$122.1M: departments −$29.2M, PUA campuses −$14.1M, NES campuses −$21.5M, one-time −$12.8M, recapture −$44.5M.
- Additions +$67.8M: teacher pay raise $11.7M, support staff raise $5.8M, SPED staff $13.7M, Pre-K $5.0M, charters/DAEP/JJAEP $10.9M, maintenance tax notes $4.0M, etc.
- FY27: the bridge (WS-May26 slide 14).
- Revenue −$38.4M: enrollment loss −$50M (4,000 students); loss of the "disaster relief tax" pennies −$50M; Teacher Incentive Allotment +$27.5M; property sales +$35M; 1882-partnership pass-through −$24M.
- Cuts −$124M: central office −$35M, NES decreases −$29M, 1882 partnerships −$19M, school consolidation −$15M, vacancies −$15M, "efficiencies" −$12M, one-time −$6M, overtime −$3M.
- Increases +$61.5M: PUA/PFP campus pay +$11M; electricity & water +$13.5M; central office salaries +$7.75M and minimum-wage raise +$5M; Future 2 $4.5M; health insurance $4M.
- Self-insured health fund: projected net position −$19.5M (FY26 estimate) and −$5.5M (FY27). This is the reason for the plan consolidation from 7 plans to 4 (WS-May26 slides 41, 48).
FY26 mid-year status¶
At March 31 2026, against the Feb amended budget of $2.075B revenue and $2.100B expenditure, actuals were $1.880B revenue and $1.394B expenditure. Projected ending FB was $751,966,507 (WS-Apr26 slide 36, EMF text).
A26-1 added a $46,000,000 "Prior period property value audit" other financing source. That is a one-time item propping up FY26.
6. Staffing¶
FTEs (budget book PEIMS-role tables)¶
| FY24 final | FY25 budget | FY26 budget | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total FTE, General Fund | 20,922 | 18,453 | 17,136 (OCR) |
| Total FTE, all funds | 24,105 | 20,467 | 19,479 (OCR) |
| Teachers, GF | 11,114 | 10,811 | 10,006 (OCR) |
| Teachers, all funds | 11,578 | 10,984 | 10,199 (OCR) |
| Principals (all funds) | 377 | 329 | 319 (OCR) |
| Assistant principals (all funds) | 602 | 659 | 615 (OCR) |
| Counselors (all funds) | 387 | 379 | 345 (OCR) |
| Social workers (all funds) | 34 | 16 | 12 (OCR) |
| Librarians (all funds) | 154 | 81 | 50 (OCR) |
Sources: B25 p39 / p130; B26 p40 (OCR).
FY27: no FTE table is published yet.
Position cuts¶
- FY24-FY25:
- "From November 2023 to June 2024, we have decreased Central Office staff by approximately 1,500 positions"; contracted services fell by about $27M (B25 p6; WS-Jun24 p8).
- The A&M filled-position count: GF central office 7,044 (FY24) → 6,188 (FY25); ESSER positions 1,029 → 125; GF school positions 14,711 → 14,909; membership 175,271 → 167,398 (WS-Feb25 p9).
- FY26: central office FTE 3,786 → 3,438 (−348, about 9%). The largest cuts were FMO −199, Communications −78, IT −53, Schools office −49 (WS-May22-25 p19).
- FY27: central office "position count" 7,260 → 7,055 (−205) under a broader definition that includes FMO, police and finance staff. The central office budget goes $619.0M → $604.8M (WS-May26 slides 36, 51).
Pay¶
- FY25 HISD salary schedule: bachelor's $64,000 minimum to $89,500 maximum (B25 p126).
- By experience: 0 years $64,000; 5 years $66,000; 10 years $69,000; 15 years $72,000; 20 years $74,500 (B25 p127).
- NES teachers are on a separate "Hospital Model" differentiated scale (B25 p127).
- FY26 raise funding: teacher raise $11.7M and support staff raise $5.8M (P26 p14). Also PUA teacher salary increases $12–15M and NES teacher salary increases $20M (WS-May1-25 p12; WS-May22-25 p13). State money: Teacher Retention Allotment +$36.55M (HB2) (P26 p13).
- FY27:
- Average HISD teacher salary $68,527 (2022-23) → $83,338 (2026-27). HISD says this is about +$15K in three years and that 60% of returning teachers will earn at least $80K (WS-May26 slides 18-19, chart1 XML).
- The new Teacher Excellence System (TES) pay-for-performance scale for regular teachers runs Progressing I $70,000 / Progressing II $74,000 / Proficient I $80,000 / Proficient II $86,000 / Exemplary I $92,000.
- NES core teachers get +$6,000 (+$9,000 at Proficient II); NES elective teachers get +$3,000 (WS-May26 chart2 XML).
- The deck refers to a "4% raise in September" (WS-May26 slide 46).
7. Campus allocation model (how money gets to schools)¶
Two systems¶
| NES | Non-NES ("PUA", Per-Unit Allocation; renamed EAS, "Earned Autonomy System", May 2026) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds the budget | Built centrally from standardized staffing models (teacher apprentices, learning coaches, SPED aides); principals have little discretion | Principal-built from a per-student formula |
| Formula | Staffing crosswalks (WS-Apr25 pp25-26) | Projected enrollment × attendance (ADA%) × per-unit allocation (WS-May24 p29; WS-Apr25 p13) |
Year-by-year formula changes:
- FY25: "hold harmless" for enrollment and attendance was eliminated, with loss capped at 12% (B25 p7; WS-May24 p29).
- FY26: +$75/student, with 10% of any loss added back (WS-Apr25 p12).
- FY27: a new "PPOR" (Per Pupil Operating Revenue) formula (WS-Apr26 slides 42-44; WS-May26 slides 17-33):
- $1,400 base per student × projected enrollment × ADA;
- special-population weights aligned to the state's (at-risk, SPED, G/T, CTE, EL, refugee, homeless);
- teacher salaries funded at actual pay-for-performance levels × 1.15 benefits;
- magnet allocation;
- a floor and ceiling: no campus loses more than 1% or gains more than 4% vs its FY26 allocation.
- NES schools get the same formula plus +$500 per pupil "academic need" (WS-May26 slide 20-21 diagram text).
Autonomy tiers (FY25 book): Level 4 Separate & Unique magnets (21 schools); Level 3 A/B-rated (57); Level 2 C/D-rated non-NES (41); Level 1 NES (130); special (18); total 267 (B25 p58, image).
Per-student comparisons published by HISD (budgeted)¶
| Source | Measure | NES | Non-NES / PUA |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY25 (WS-Jun24 p12-13) | Enrollment | 72,453 | 95,471 |
| Base funding per student | $7,855 | $6,020 (gap $1,835) | |
| SPED staff per student | $1,269 | $600 | |
| Utilities per student | $321 | $233 | |
| All-in per student | $9,445 | $6,882 (gap $2,563) | |
| All-in total | $684.3M | $657.0M | |
| FY26 (WS-May22-25 p15) | Enrollment | 64,999 | 93,884 |
| Base funding | $556,812,358 | $575,825,858 | |
| Base per student | $8,566 | $6,133 | |
| Districtwide per student | $373 | $252 | |
| SPED per student | $1,696 | $717 | |
| Base + districtwide + SPED | $10,635 | $7,103 | |
| NES learning coaches & apprentices per student | $1,268 | – | |
| Teacher-salary differential per student | $660 | – |
The FY26 comparison is the primary source of the press "$8,566 vs $6,133" and "~$2,500 gap" figures: $10,635 − $7,103 = $3,532 all-in, or $8,566 − $6,133 = $2,433 base [calc].
The Texas Tribune's "$8,459 / $6,265" figures (SECONDARY, FY27) were not found in any HISD document retrieved.
My aggregation of the school-by-school budget pages (GF campus budget + Title I)¶
| NES | Non-NES | |
|---|---|---|
| FY25 (B25 pp141-146, text) | 130 campuses, 72,385 projected students, GF $684.3M → $9,453/student; Title I $26.2M | 129 campuses, 95,471 students, GF $659.0M → $6,903/student; Title I $22.5M |
| FY26 (B26 pp145-150, OCR; see caveats in SOURCES.md) | 129 campuses, 64,518 students, GF $685.6M → $10,627/student; Title I $25.5M | 129 campuses, 91,704 students, GF $652.7M → $7,118/student; Title I $22.4M |
- The FY25 figures reproduce HISD's own all-in numbers ($9,445 / $6,882) within 0.3%.
- Totals:
- FY25: all 269 parsed campuses GF $1,408.8M, Title I $51.0M.
- FY26: 271 campuses GF $1,421.0M, Title I $50.6M.
- So roughly 2/3 of the GF goes out through campus budget pages; the rest is districtwide and central office.
- Row-level data:
sources/budget/fy25_campus_allocations.csvandfy26_campus_allocations_OCR.csv. - For actual spending per student by NES status, use the TEA-PEIMS based
data/hisd_campus_nes_summary.csv. These budgeted figures are the counterpart.
NES cost statements¶
| Item | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|
| FY25 key action: expand NES to 45 more schools | approx. $102M | B25 p53 |
| NES first-year (FY24) increase | $69.2M | B25 p18 |
| FY25 NES all-in campus budgets vs FY24, despite +45 campuses | down ~$69M (staffing ratios "rightsized", start-up costs not recurring) | WS-Jun24 p14 |
| NES campus budgets, FY25 → FY26 | $570.2M → $545.3M (plus $20M NES teacher raises) | WS-May22-25 p13 |
| FY26 NES budget composition | salaries & benefits $489.6M; non-salary $30.1M; buybacks $11.7M; magnet $8.5M; total $539.9M | WS-May1-25 p13 |
| FY27 "NES decreases (PPOR & PFP)" | −$29M | WS-May26 slide 14 |
8. Big-ticket items and notable lines¶
- Contracted charters and virtual school (paid out of GF Instruction): budget-book allocations of $55.9M (FY25) → $67.2M (FY26). These are budgeted allocations, not actuals; TEA's campus data shows Texas Connections Academy's 2024-25 General Fund actual at $56.5M.
- Texas Connections Academy Houston: $42.2M (FY25) → $51.8M (FY26).
- Also included: Energized ECC/ES/MS, E-STEM Central HS / West MS, and Mount Carmel (closed Dec 2024).
- Sources: B25 p147; B26 p151 (OCR). The FY25 actual overspend included "Texas Connections expenditures" (
notes/acfr.md). - Maintenance tax notes (FY26): $110M of borrowing outside a bond election (WS-May22-25 p17):
| Purpose | Amount |
|---|---|
| Health & security capital | $40M |
| IT infrastructure | $35M |
| Barbara Jordan CTE Center | $20M |
| CCMR/CTE | $10M |
| Transportation system | $5M |
GF debt payments of $8M were planned for FY26 (WS-May22-25 p13), and B26 p56 (OCR) lists $30M + $40M of these as funding sources for Key Actions 7-8. - "Health and safety" plan: $100M over two years after the bond failure (B26 p14 OCR; WS-Feb25 p15). - Consultants: Alvarez & Marsal ("A&M") produced the FY26 workshop trend and fund-balance analyses (WS-Feb25 p8-10; WS-Apr26 chart). Its contract cost does not appear in any budget document retrieved. - FY25 purchased-services target: "Cut current expenditures by $140,000,000" = $20M NES rightsizing + $50M central office + $50M purchased services/contracts + $20M operational efficiencies (B25 p54). - Payments to TIRZ (fn 97): $57.2M / $53.5M / $44.7M in FY25 / FY26 / FY27, a GF cost passed to City of Houston TIRZs. - Utilities: about $49.5M (FY24 actual) and about $50.5M (FY25) (B25 p102; B26 p106). FY27 adds +$13.5M for electricity and water (WS-May26 slide 14). - Key action costs: - FY26: Pre-K $5M; teacher evaluation $1M; communications $2M; CTE $30M (tax notes); health and safety $40M (tax notes) (B26 pp55-56, OCR, verified p55). - FY27: total $18.25M — Future 2 pilot $4.5M (9 schools × $500K), SPED $4M, early childhood $3.5M, acceleration $3M, teacher evaluation and compensation $2.25M (WS-Apr26 slide 30). - School closures: HISD said no closures in FY26 but a proposal for FY27 (WS-Feb25 p16). FY27 budgets −$15M for "Consolidate Schools" (WS-May26 slide 14). The list of schools is not in the budget docs. - FY27 property tax notice (N27): - Proposed M&O budget −4.70%, debt service +12.70%, total −1.99%. - Local revenue per student $12,299 vs $12,533 last year; state revenue per student $528 vs $353. - Taxable value $232.6B (+0.24%). - Average residence tax $2,272.07 → $2,216.58.
9. Inconsistencies and errors in HISD's own documents¶
- Tax rate misstatements:
- B25's transmittal letter says the budget used "$1.0350 … M&O $0.8683" (p6). The body says $0.8683 total = 0.7016 M&O + 0.1667 I&S (p19, p119).
- B26's letter says "$1.0450 … M&O $0.8783" (p7 OCR). The body says $0.8783 total (p21, p123).
- The letters are wrong.
- Fund balance typo: B25 p6 and p91 write the FY24 fund balance as "$1.047 million"; it should read billion.
- Unassigned FB repeated: B25 p91 shows unassigned FB of $590,067,862 for both 6/30/2023 and 6/30/2024.
notes/acfr.mdconfirms this is what the ACFRs report; FY24's drawdown was absorbed by the instructional-reserve assignment. - Recapture FY25: three HISD figures ($44.5M final budget, $56.97M Dec amendment, $56.9M actual) vs TEA's $49.1M. The FY25 adopted budget assumed $0.
- FY26 state FSP: the narrative says FSP is "approximately $110.5 million" (B26 p88, p113). The revenue comparison table says Foundation Fund $238,160,263 (B26 p114 OCR). The table total ($414.5M) ties to S26, so the narrative likely omits other state programs.
- FY26 GF appropriation: B26 p25 (OCR) shows $2,121,877,295 vs $2,121,893,114 in S26. The $15,819 difference equals function 81.
- FY26 Debt Service: B26 p25 calls $389,749,309 the "Debt Service Fund budget"; that is revenue. Appropriations are $397,003,334.
- FY26 beginning FB: adopted at $799.9M (S26). The book shows $750.4M (B26 p33). The audited figure is $748.1M. The adopted budget overstated starting reserves by about $52M because the FY25 actual deficit (about $297–299M) far exceeded the amended −$247M.
- FY25 ADA: B25 p18 calls 179,592 the ADA; it is HISD's enrollment count.
- FY27 May-20 preliminary vs adopted Debt Service: local revenue was $369.3M in the May 20 preliminary and $383.0M as adopted; ending DS FB moved $159.5M → $173.2M. The GF did not change between the preliminary and adoption.
10. Not found or not verified¶
- FY27 adopted budget book: not yet published (FY26's appeared Nov 2025). So FY27 has no object-level, line-item revenue, FTE or school-by-school detail; only function totals (W27, S27) and the workshop decks.
- FY27 school-by-school allocations, NES vs non-NES per-student: not published. HISD gives only sample schools (WS-May26 slides 24-33).
- Special Revenue (federal grant) budget by function, and internal service funds (health insurance, workers' comp): not adopted or published, except grant planning totals and the health fund statement.
- Consultant contract amounts (Alvarez & Marsal, NES curriculum vendors, Dyad/Future 2 vendors): not in budget documents. They would need board agenda items or a contract register.
- Press articles on each year's adoption: not fetched (session rate limit). The SECONDARY claims cited are from search snippets only.
- The 2024 and 2025 tax-rate worksheets were downloaded but not analyzed.
FY2019-FY2024 adopted budgets (history extension)¶
Added 2026-10-07. Files are in sources/budget/ with an FY20xx_ prefix (see SOURCES.md). The FY2019 and FY2020 documents are HISD's own files recovered from the Internet Archive, because HISD's current Finalsite page does not carry them. Cites are (abbrev, PDF page). No figure in this section is OCR'd: every new document has a text layer.
| Abbrev | File |
|---|---|
| B19 / B21 / B22 / B23 | Adopted Budget Books: FY2019_2018-19_… (833 pp), FY2021_2020-21_… (827 pp), FY2022_2021-22_… (816 pp), FY2023_2022-23_HISD_Adopted_Budget_Book.pdf (798 pp) |
| S20 / S21 / S22 / S23 / S24 | One-page adopted schedule, GF + Debt Service + Nutrition (FY20xx_…_Adopted_Budget.pdf) |
| W19 / W20a | TEA-format web postings: FY2019_2018-19_Web_Posting_for_Adopted_Budget.pdf, FY2020_2019-20_Web_Posting_for_Adopted_Budget.pdf |
| W20 / W21 / W22 / W23 / W24 | Budget Summary by Function (Adopted) postings |
| P19 / P21 / P22 / P23 / P24 | Recommended-budget / public-hearing presentations |
| WS-Jun19 / WS-Jun20 / WS-Jun23 | Budget workshops of Jun 4 2019 (FY20), Jun 4 2020 (FY21), Jun 15 2023 (FY24 public hearing) |
| A19-Mid / A20-YE | FY2019 mid-year and FY2020 year-end budget amendments |
| ACFR RSI | Budget-vs-actual schedules: FY19 ACFR p.106, FY20 p.101, FY21 p.92, FY22 p.91, FY23 p.95, FY24 p.91 (in sources/acfr/) |
No FY2020 or FY2024 budget book exists online. HISD's current site lists books for 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2024-25 and 2025-26 only. The old Blackboard "Budget Books" page (Wayback, Nov 2024; _popups/wb_31978_2024.html) also stopped at 2022-23. The Internet Archive has the 2018-19 book but no 2019-20 book. For FY2020 and FY2024, the one-page adopted schedules (S20, S24), the function postings and the ACFR RSI "original budget" column are used. They agree (§H6 item 4).
HB1. Headline numbers (as adopted)¶
| FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date adopted | Jun 28 2018 (W19) | Jun 27 2019 (W20a, W20) | Jun 11 2020 (W21; P21 p1) | "June 20, 2021" per W22 (a Sunday; P22 p1 is dated Jun 10 2021; see HB6) | Jun 9 2022 (W23; P23 p1) | Jun 22 2023 (W24), the first budget of the Board of Managers |
| All 3 adopted funds: revenue | 2,407,607,477 [calc] | 2,343,793,040 | 2,389,934,461 | 2,548,910,064 | 2,649,339,059 | 2,718,217,109 |
| All 3 adopted funds: appropriations | 2,478,587,728 [calc] | 2,423,526,168 | 2,472,651,253 | 2,679,457,472 | 2,768,198,481 | 2,937,239,012 |
| All funds: revenue − appropriations | (70,980,251) | (79,733,128) | (82,716,792) | (130,547,408) | (118,859,422) | (219,021,903) |
| General Fund revenue | 1,977,345,003 | 1,903,085,694 | 1,972,054,361 | 2,081,127,566 | 2,163,294,662 | 2,194,824,843 |
| General Fund appropriations | 1,996,983,851 | 1,923,742,406 | 1,991,093,833 | 2,186,550,176 | 2,267,677,919 | 2,377,150,619 |
| GF operating deficit (rev − exp) | (19,638,848) | (20,656,712) | (19,039,472) | (105,422,610) | (104,383,257) | (182,325,776) |
| GF other sources, net (transfers in/out, capital leases) | (15,961,773) | (2,544,977) | (14,949,140) | +23,346,295 | +3,613,800 | +13,786,350 |
| GF budgeted net change in fund balance | (35,600,621) | (23,201,689) | (33,988,612) | (82,076,315) | (100,769,457) | (168,539,426) |
| GF est. beginning FB, as adopted | 612,678,670 | 582,138,621 | 878,463,630 | 769,293,013 | 852,224,713 (+70,000,000 "anticipated unspent") | 1,120,551,047 (+70,000,000 "anticipated unspent") |
| GF est. ending FB, as adopted | 577,078,049 | 558,936,932 | 844,475,018 | 687,216,698 | 821,455,256 | 1,022,011,621 |
| Actual ending GF FB (audited) | 818,993,804 | 967,900,148 | 996,625,712 | 1,126,908,568 | 1,127,068,920 | 1,047,196,700 |
| Tax rate assumed in the adopted budget (per $100) | $1.2067 (M&O 1.04 + I&S 0.1667) (B19 p16) | M&O $0.97 (WS-Jun19 p10) → $1.1367 | $1.1177 (M&O 0.9510) (B21 p8) | proposed $1.1284 (P22 p11) | proposed $1.0619 (P23 p10) | proposed $0.9757 (M&O 0.8090) (P24 p6, p10) |
| Tax rate finally adopted (in the fall) | $1.2067 | $1.1367 | $1.1331 (Oct 8 2020; B21 p8, p20) | $1.0944 (Sep 9 2021; B22 p18) | $1.0372 (Oct 13 2022; B23 p18) | $0.8683 (M&O 0.7016; notes/acfr.md §5a) |
| Budgeted recapture (GF fn 91) | 272,407,268 | 0 | 12,083,891 | 213,265,281 | 247,439,733 | 326,539,245 |
| ADA / WADA assumed | 192,132.494 / 267,010.725 (B19 p17) | 187,105.401 ADA (WS-Jun19 p14) | 188,244.477 / 265,559.429 (B21 p18) | 177,693.300 / 250,680.543 (B22 p17) | 173,418.280 / 246,980.629 (B23 p17) | not found |
Sources and method:
- GF rows: FY2019 from B19 p24 (the 4-year projection schedule; its "2018-2019 Adopted" column), FY2020-FY2024 from S20-S24. Every GF revenue, appropriation and net-change total ties to the ACFR RSI "original budget" column (FY2023 to within $1).
- All-funds rows: FY2020-FY2024 are W20-W24 totals and tie exactly to GF + Debt Service + Nutrition from S20-S24 [calc].
- FY2019 all-funds rows: computed from B19 (GF p24, Debt Service p26, Nutrition p23). The TEA web posting W19 states $2,491,713,464 revenue including $84,105,987 of "other sources", and $2,524,949,501 of appropriations, which is $46,361,773 more than its own function lines sum to (see HB6).
- Who adopted: the elected Board of Education adopted FY2019-FY2023; the TEA-appointed Board of Managers adopted FY2024 (W24 posted Jun 26 2023).
HB2. Debt Service and Nutrition (adopted, $)¶
| FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debt Service revenue | 288,115,215 | 300,321,090 | 312,258,116 | 329,582,527 | 352,569,696 | 388,619,864 |
| Debt Service appropriations | 341,658,611 | 353,060,948 | 360,458,046 | 355,975,998 | 374,724,771 | 410,694,639 |
| Nutrition revenue | 142,147,259 | 140,386,256 | 105,621,984 | 138,199,971 | 133,474,701 | 134,772,402 |
| Nutrition appropriations | 139,945,266 | 146,722,814 | 121,099,374 | 136,931,298 | 125,795,791 | 149,393,754 |
Sources: B19 p26 (DS), p23 (Nutrition); S20-S24. In each year the Debt Service gap is closed by GF/Capital transfers in (e.g., FY2019 $53.7M, FY2024 $22.1M).
HB3. General Fund revenue by source (adopted, $)¶
| FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Property taxes | 1,728,092,547 | 1,702,171,380 | 1,771,575,694 | 1,895,069,877 | 1,868,732,327 | 1,888,763,457 |
| Investment earnings | 9,000,000 | 15,000,000 | 5,000,000 | 2,200,000 | 23,766,681 | 39,624,859 |
| Misc. local | 12,074,717 | 11,879,675 | 8,966,799 | 9,453,620 | 8,156,764 | 7,240,000 |
| State | 215,146,388 | 153,313,693 | 166,787,686 | 157,174,069 | 190,733,783 | 196,658,385 |
| Federal | 13,031,351 | 20,720,946 | 19,724,182 | 17,230,000 | 71,905,107 | 62,538,142 |
| Total GF revenue | 1,977,345,003 | 1,903,085,694 | 1,972,054,361 | 2,081,127,566 | 2,163,294,662 | 2,194,824,843 |
| GF mix local / state / federal [calc] | 88.5 / 10.9 / 0.7 % | 90.9 / 8.1 / 1.1 % | 90.5 / 8.5 / 1.0 % | 91.6 / 7.6 / 0.8 % | 87.9 / 8.8 / 3.3 % | 88.2 / 9.0 / 2.8 % |
| Actual GF revenue (ACFR) | 2,200,600,360 | 1,981,814,081 | 2,139,390,332 | 2,107,492,062 | 2,154,751,784 | 1,982,608,752 |
| Actual − adopted [calc] | +223.3M | +78.7M | +167.3M | +26.4M | −8.5M | −212.2M |
Sources: B19 p24; S20-S24; actuals from notes/acfr.md H3 / §2a.
- State aid was under-budgeted every year FY2019-FY2022. FY2019 actual state revenue was $399.9M vs $215.1M adopted (FY19 ACFR p.106).
- The FY2024 shortfall is the property-tax compression and exemption package passed after adoption. The original budget had $1,872.6M of property tax vs $1,506.8M actual (FY24 ACFR p.91).
HB4. General Fund appropriations by function (adopted, $)¶
| Fn | Function | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Instruction | 1,000,417,027 | 1,139,172,839 | 1,151,970,226 | 1,135,700,518 | 1,149,772,623 | 1,137,458,757 |
| 12 | Instructional resources/media | 9,691,146 | 8,905,787 | 10,117,415 | 8,877,520 | 16,758,401 | 20,575,943 |
| 13 | Curriculum/staff development | 22,966,777 | 30,786,402 | 35,575,973 | 35,962,547 | 36,198,801 | 27,569,001 |
| 21 | Instructional leadership | 29,448,219 | 24,033,019 | 27,238,328 | 25,134,311 | 32,520,525 | 30,977,071 |
| 23 | School leadership | 137,909,124 | 144,526,927 | 151,622,019 | 148,669,010 | 165,393,715 | 174,941,609 |
| 31 | Guidance/counseling/evaluation | 46,214,725 | 65,946,068 | 64,146,508 | 65,403,532 | 71,930,212 | 79,520,172 |
| 32 | Social work | 1,816,958 | 10,379,352 | 17,783,562 | 19,275,453 | 9,974,809 | 8,382,235 |
| 33 | Health services | 18,638,980 | 20,835,004 | 21,852,470 | 22,518,241 | 25,434,832 | 25,650,688 |
| 34 | Student transportation | 57,081,236 | 60,867,135 | 62,374,366 | 59,893,990 | 54,462,909 | 53,505,616 |
| 35 | Food services (GF portion) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 136,117 |
| 36 | Extracurricular | 16,157,960 | 12,213,691 | 13,016,782 | 11,269,840 | 12,316,171 | 19,521,086 |
| 41 | General administration | 35,679,582 | 36,269,706 | 39,549,934 | 40,251,576 | 47,841,669 | 50,002,399 |
| 51 | Facilities maintenance & operations | 184,556,245 | 197,179,436 | 200,224,409 | 205,844,817 | 215,192,846 | 233,833,447 |
| 52 | Security & monitoring | 22,017,162 | 23,890,855 | 28,554,805 | 28,026,356 | 30,294,544 | 30,601,520 |
| 53 | Data processing | 47,156,793 | 50,583,977 | 56,322,728 | 62,405,029 | 64,673,294 | 61,307,083 |
| 61 | Community services | 2,044,672 | 2,365,684 | 3,008,827 | 2,794,599 | 1,946,674 | 2,030,863 |
| 71 | Debt service (GF) | 17,914,739 | 17,914,739 | 15,250,000 | 15,250,000 | 0 | 0 |
| 81 | Facilities acquisition/construction | 0 | 108,561 | 37,848 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 91 | Recapture | 272,407,268 | 0 | 12,083,891 | 213,265,281 | 247,439,733 | 326,539,245 |
| 95 | JJAEP | 893,650 | 893,650 | 792,000 | 792,000 | 792,000 | 792,000 |
| 97 | Payments to TIRZ | 59,031,258 | 61,526,976 | 63,066,742 | 69,106,766 | 68,625,372 | 77,304,451 |
| 99 | Appraisal district / other intergov. | 14,940,330 | 15,342,598 | 16,505,000 | 16,108,790 | 16,108,790 | 16,501,316 |
| Total GF | 1,996,983,851 | 1,923,742,406 | 1,991,093,833 | 2,186,550,176 | 2,267,677,919 | 2,377,150,619 | |
| GF transfers out (not in total) | 46,361,773 | 40,134,765 | 37,449,140 | 19,020,390 | 16,386,200 | 16,213,650 |
Sources: B19 p24; S20-S24. Lines sum to the stated totals [calc], except FY2023, which sums to $2,267,677,920 ($1 rounding; the RSI shows ...920).
- Statutory public-notice and lobbying lines (fn 41, memo): FY2019 notices $100,000 (W19). FY2020 $138,275 (W20). FY2021 $141,275 + lobbying $396,500 (W21). FY2022 $141,275 + $366,000 (W22). FY2023 $113,275 + $278,000 (W23). FY2024 $147,953 + $278,000 (W24).
- Instruction: the FY2020 adopted instruction line jumped $138.8M (+13.9%) over FY2019 [calc] after HB3's compensation mandates. WS-Jun19 p14 computes a "Total Gain Amount for Salary Calculation" of $83.9M and a 30% salary mandate of $25.2M.
HB5. Adopted vs final budget vs actual (General Fund)¶
| FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adopted net change in FB | (35,600,621) | (23,201,689) | (33,988,612) | (82,076,315) | (100,769,457) | (168,539,426) |
| Final (amended) net change | (86,736,798) | (89,739,826) | (206,965,474) | (144,400,998) | (164,930,325) | (194,381,109) |
| Actual net change | +206,315,134 | +148,906,344 | +28,725,564 | +130,282,856 | +160,352 | (79,872,220) |
| Final GF expenditure budget | 2,167,653,402 | 2,051,838,084 | 2,330,879,400 | 2,209,721,030 | 2,359,123,684 | 2,227,255,442 |
| Recapture: adopted → 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 | 247.4M → 283.8M → 276.4M | 326.5M → 0 → 0 |
Sources: ACFR RSI pages listed above; also notes/acfr.md H5 and §2e.
- The adopted GF deficit grew every year from FY2021 to FY2024: −$34.0M, −$82.1M, −$100.8M, −$168.5M. HISD nonetheless ended FY2019-FY2023 with surpluses or break-even.
- FY2024 was the first actual draw (−$79.9M). Then FY2025 adopted −$131.1M and actual −$299.1M (§0 above).
- FY2020: the year-end amendment shows an "Increase in recapture in the amount of $75,441,870" after HB3 (A20-YE p5).
- FY2021: the FY21 ACFR says recapture came in "$61.2 million over budget … due to the ADA hold harmless adjustment" (FY21 ACFR p.30).
- FY2021 deficit composition, per the book: "a $33.9 million budget deficit, of which $18.4 million is assigned fund balance – North Forest Public Facility Corporation projects, a $33.3 million salary and benefits package and House Bill 3 allotment budget increases of $24.3 million in Early Education Allotment" (B21 p8).
- FY2022: "the adopted budget reflects $213 million of local property tax collections to the state under recapture, an increase of $201 million from the 2020-2021 fiscal year" (B22 p8).
- FY2023: "$247 million … under recapture, an increase of $34 million" (B23 p8).
HB6. Inconsistencies and errors in HISD's own FY2019-FY2024 documents¶
- FY2022 adoption date. W22 says "Date Adopted by Board: June 20, 2021," which was a Sunday. The public-hearing / recommended-budget deck is dated Thursday June 10, 2021 (P22 p1). The posted date is probably wrong; the actual vote date is not confirmed by a primary source here.
- FY2019 web posting does not foot. W19's total appropriations ($2,524,949,501) exceed the sum of its function lines ($2,478,587,728 [calc]) by exactly the GF transfers-out ($46,361,773). Its revenue total includes $84,105,987 of transfers-in ("Other Sources"). The budget book's all-funds page likewise carries the GF at $2,043,345,624, including transfers (B19 p23).
- FY2020 has two different adopted totals. The Jun 27 2019 web posting (W20a) totals $2,423,664,443. The Budget Summary by Function (W20) totals $2,423,526,168. The $138,275 difference equals the public-notice memo line, which W20a added into its total.
- The adopted schedules and the ACFR "original budget" column split local revenue differently, though the totals match. For example:
- FY2022: property tax $1,895,069,877 / misc. $9,453,620 (S22) vs $1,901,266,733 / $3,256,764 (RSI).
- FY2024: property tax $1,888,763,457 / investments $39,624,859 / misc. $7,240,000 (S24) vs $1,872,590,384 / $60,537,932 / $2,500,000 (RSI).
- Similar small reclasses occur in FY2019, FY2021 and FY2023. In FY2020, instruction and FMO differ by ±$1,957.
- FY2021 web posting mislabels a line. The $63,066,742 TIRZ payment is printed on line 96 "Payments to Charter Schools", and line 97 "Payments to TIF" shows $0 (W21). S21 shows it correctly as fn 97.
- Adopted budgets understated the starting fund balance, often badly. Estimated beginning GF FB vs audited prior-year ending [calc]:
- FY2020: −$236.9M (582.1M vs 819.0M)
- FY2021: −$89.4M
- FY2022: −$227.3M
- FY2023: −$274.7M (−$204.7M counting the $70M "anticipated unspent")
- FY2024: −$6.5M
This is the opposite of FY2026, where the adopted budget overstated the beginning FB by about $52M (§9 item 8 above). 7. FY2023 transmittal letter tax-rate error. It says the rate "was reduced from $1.1331 to $1.0372" (B23 p8). The prior-year rate was $1.0944; $1.1331 is the FY2021 rate. This is the same kind of error as the FY25/FY26 letters (§9 item 1). 8. FY2024 deck M&O error. P24 p10: "M&O total tax rate for school year 2023-24 is $0.8090 down from school year 2022-23 of $.8050." The FY2023 M&O rate was $0.8705, and $0.8090 > $0.8050 would not be "down." 9. FY2021 ADA typo. B21 p18 prints the ADA as "188,244,477 pupils"; it should read 188,244.477. 10. FY2023 book relabels a FY2022 actual. B23 p26 shows the FY2022 actual "Insurance proceeds 21,156,000". The FY2022 ACFR records that $21,156,000 as issuance of leases and shows no FY2022 insurance proceeds (FY22 ACFR p.36). 11. Recapture planning misses. FY2020 was adopted with $0 and FY2021 with $12.1M; actual was $80.8M and $197.8M. FY2024 was adopted with $326.5M and actual was $0, because of the post-adoption compression and exemption law. Each budget was adopted before the governing legislation or TEA's final values were known.
HB7. Not found / not retrieved (FY2019-FY2024)¶
- FY2020 and FY2024 adopted budget books: not on HISD's site and not in the Internet Archive (checked the old
filedownload.ashxcaptures; list in_popups/wayback_filedownload_budget_hits.txt). - FY2020 Budget Workshop 7 (Jun 25 2019): the only Internet Archive captures are truncated at 1 MB (unreadable PDF), so it was not saved.
- FY2020 recommended-budget presentation: no capture found. HISD's current site lists recommended-budget presentations only from 2020-21.
- FY2024 ADA/WADA assumptions, and FY2024 object/FTE detail: no FY2024 book. The FY2025 book (B25 p22, p39) carries FY24 final-budget object and FTE columns; see §4 and §6.
- Exact board vote dates other than the TEA postings: not cross-checked against board minutes. The FY2020 budget (adopted Jun 27 2019) may have followed an earlier failed vote; an Arabic-language HISD press-release file titled "HISD_Board_of_Education_rejects_proposed_budget_for_2019_Arabic_.pdf" appears in the Internet Archive's index of
houstonisd.org/cms/lib2/TX01001591/Centricity/Domain/40261/(SECONDARY; seen in the index only, not downloaded or read). - The 2021-2023 tax-rate calculation worksheets were downloaded but not analyzed.
FY2026 and FY2027 where no audit exists (update, 2026-10-08)¶
Added so that every report table can run through FY2027. HISD's FY2026 ACFR is not yet published, so FY2026 is shown from budgets and HISD's own forecasts. All figures below are General Fund. scripts/build_gf_fy2019_2027.py holds them with their citations, checks that revenue − appropriations + other sources = net change and beginning + net change = ending fund balance for every budget, and writes data/hisd_gf_fy2019_2027_by_basis.csv, data/hisd_gf_function_fy2019_2027.csv and data/hisd_gf_revenue_source_fy2019_2027.csv.
U1. FY2026: every published estimate¶
| Version | Revenue | Appropriations | Other sources (net) | Net change | Beginning FB | Ending FB | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adopted (Jun 12 2025) | 2,082,033,202 | 2,121,893,114 | 25,176,073 | (14,683,839) | 799,864,486 | 785,180,647 | S26 |
| Amendment #1 (Feb 12 2026) | 2,074,847,057 | 2,099,737,938 | 28,769,073 | 3,878,192 | 748,088,314 | 751,966,506 | A26-1; repeated as the first column of A26-2 (A26-1 prints revenue as ...058) |
| HISD forecast, actuals to Mar 31 2026 | 751,966,507 | WS-Apr26 slide 36 | |||||
| Amendment #2 (Jun 11 2026), final budget | 2,053,847,057 | 2,109,408,270 | 37,515,277 | (18,045,936) | 748,088,314 | 730,042,378 | A26-2 p1 |
| HISD forecast (May 20 2026) | 730,042,378 | WS-May26 slide 14 "Forecasted FY 2026 Fund Balance" | |||||
| Audited | not yet published |
- A26-2 other sources: transfers in $4,120,000; sale of property $15,000,000; "Prior period property value audit" $46,626,204; transfers out ($28,230,927). Without the property-value audit item the net change would be ($64,672,140) [calc].
- A26-2 revenue by source: local $1,654,861,362; state $377,325,695 (adopted $414,500,000; A26-1 $398,325,695); federal $21,660,000.
- A26-2 by function is in §3 above (column "FY26 amended #2").
- Nutrition fund, A26-2: revenue $139,136,165 (federal $130,927,426), appropriations $151,953,888, deficit ($12,817,723), restricted FB $55.8M → $42.9M.
- Debt Service fund, A26-2: appropriations $394,251,191 (adopted $397,003,334); the Series 2026 refunding ($342,790,000 issued, $343,800,000 to escrow, $7,161,126 premium) is booked here; unassigned FB $156.4M → $181.3M projected.
- The FY27 tax notice (N27) gives an M&O fund balance of $558,903,003 at the end of FY26. That is net of the cash needed before the first state aid payment, so it is not comparable with the $730.0M above.
U2. FY2026 enrollment and per-student figures¶
- TEA's fall 2025 enrolled membership for HISD is 167,793 (TEA 2025-26 budget report header; the campus budget report's campus counts sum to 167,786). TEA's budget and actual reports carry the same fall count for each year (checked for 2019-20 to 2024-25), so this is a count, not a projection.
- TEA's count ran 0.3-0.4% below the ACFR enrollment in FY2023-FY2025 (189,290 vs 189,934; 183,603 vs 184,109; 176,039 vs 176,727).
- FY2026 amended General Fund spending per TEA-counted student: $2,109,408,270 / 167,793 = $12,571 (no recapture budgeted) [calc]. Excluding TIRZ ($54,247,082): $12,248 [calc].
- FY2027 adopted: $2,015,007,011 / 164,812 (HISD projection, WS-May26 slide 8) = $12,226 [calc]; excluding TIRZ ($44,698,594): $11,955 [calc].
U3. Budgets as filed with TEA¶
TEA publishes each district's adopted budget as filed in PEIMS ("Budgeted Financial Data"). HISD's 2025-26 filing ties to S26: General Fund revenue including TRS on-behalf and other receipts $2,127,033,202 = adopted revenue $2,082,033,202 + property sales and transfers in $45,000,000; total disbursements $2,141,716,843 vs appropriations + transfers out $2,141,717,041 ($198 apart). Details and the per-student comparisons with the state are in notes/tea_peims.md ("Budgeted data as filed with TEA").
U4. Still not published (checked 2026-10-08)¶
- HISD's budget page lists no new posts since 2026-10-06: no FY2027 budget book, no FY2027 amendment, no FY2026 year-end report.
- HISD's tax-information page still shows only the 2025 rate ($0.8783, adopted Oct 15 2025). (Update 2026-10-12: the board adopted the FY2027/TY2026 rate of $0.8421 = M&O $0.6754 + I&S $0.1667 on Oct 8 2026, Legistar file 26-346; the tax page had still not been updated on Oct 12.)