Round Rock ISD holds public hearing on proposed 2025–26 budget; board to amend in August after state guidance

Round Rock Independent School District held a public hearing June 17 on its proposed 2025–26 budget and tax rate, during which district staff presented a “middle” budget the board will adopt now and amend in August once the Texas Education Agency releases final coding guidance for recently passed state bills, staff said.

At the hearing, Mr. Covington, a district staff member presenting the budget, told trustees the district is adopting a baseline budget by function codes now because TEA advised districts to do so until House Bill 2 (HB 2) and Senate Bill 4 (SB 4) are fully coded into state systems. “We are able to do the official budget into the function codes without HB 2,” Covington said. He said the district will return in August to amend the budget when HB 2 implementation details are available.

The budget as presented shows total revenues of about $461.0 million for adoption tonight and total proposed expenditures of about $472.4 million, producing a planned deficit of roughly $11.0 million that staff said they expect to eliminate after the August amendment. Covington said the district’s August estimate, which incorporates HB 2 assumptions, would raise total revenues to about $478.9 million and produce a small surplus of about $97,000.

Why it matters: The timing of state legislation and TEA guidance affects how districts can record salary and retention funding in official budget function codes. For Round Rock ISD, that timing determines when the district can legally and administratively encode HB 2-related pay increases and related state funding, and whether recapture liability changes.

Key assumptions and financial…