Edinburg school board adopts 2025–26 budget, lowers tax rate and approves pay increases funded from reserves

The Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees on Aug. 22 approved a balanced budget for the 2025–26 school year, adopted a proposed total tax rate of 0.8617 and approved a multi-part compensation package that the board directed be funded in part from the district's fund balance.

The action came after a presentation by finance staff on projected revenues and expenditures and extended board debate over whether to fund additional pay increases from recurring revenue or to use one-time fund balance to cover the difference.

Board finance presenter Adele Felix told trustees the district's proposed total tax rate for the 2025 tax year is 0.8617, down from 0.8727 the prior year, and that projected tax revenues were about $79,000,000 using a 96% collection rate. Felix said changes in state law and property values ' including an increase in the homestead exemption under Senate Bill 4 ' had compressed the local maintenance-and-operations rate. Felix also presented budget assumptions: average daily attendance (ADA) projection of 29,600, projected enrollment around 33,000, anticipated federal and state funding changes, and special funds allocations (including a teacher-retention fund, Fund 196).

Board member Javier Salinas moved a detailed compensation package that the board adopted. The board motion called for: keeping starting teacher pay at $57,300 for zero-years teachers; raises of $1,200 for 1'2 years, $2,500 for year 3'4, $5,000 for years 5'20, $7,000 for years 21'35 and $5,000 for 36 years to retirement; moving librarians and nurses to the teacher pay scale; hourly employees at a 6% increase; administrative increases (2.25% for some administrators, stepped increases for principals by years of service up to 4%); and a $25-per-day increase for substitute teachers. The motion also specified that the additional cost be balanced using the district's general fund/fund balance and that staff bring back precise cost information.

Several trustees warned about using fund balance for recurring payroll. Trustee Carmen Gonzales and others urged caution, noting many Texas districts face multi-year deficits and that repeated use of reserves for recurring raises can threaten long-term stability. Trustee Javier Salinas and other supporters said the district's pay competitiveness and staff retention justified the approach and said the board could revisit the budget if enrollment or other revenue changed.

Felix gave specific financial figures: the district's proposed budget shows roughly $306 million in revenues and expenditures (balanced), a teacher-retention Fund 196 estimated at about $10,000,560, a prior-year one-time operating transfer of $6,000,000 that had been used for raises, and a projected general fund balance in the range reported to trustees of about $55,000,933 (which Felix said included a $22 million settlement that had affected prior-year operations). The board discussed SHARS reimbursement changes and potential state-level recoveries; legal counsel said the Attorney General's office was reviewing a state civil action and that districts could investigate their own claims, subject to weighing litigation costs.

After discussion and a request from trustees that administration quantify the exact fund-balance draw and return with a cost estimate, the board voted in favor of the budget, tax-rate resolution and the compensation package. Trustees asked staff to return with a clear line-item estimate of how much of the fund balance the approved compensation plan would consume at the board's next scheduled meeting.

Trustees also directed finance staff to prepare language and documents needed to finalize adoption of the tax rate at the statutory public meeting where formal adoption will be recorded; legal counsel noted the statutory election-language that must be read even when the effective rate is a decrease.

The board's vote was recorded as in favor by the trustees present (David Torres, Dominga Vela, Carmen Gonzales, Javier Salinas, Letty Flores and Letty Garcia); the motion carried.