Humble ISD previews $25–26 budget: House Bill 2 teacher allotments to lift classroom pay; board weighs staff raises, health plan changes and school staffing

Humble Independent School District trustees heard a budget workshop May 3 as district staff laid out a proposed 2025–26 spending plan that would use new state funding from House Bill 2 to raise classroom teacher pay and address staffing shortfalls across the district.

Billy Beatty, the district’s budget presenter, told the board the district expects about $26 million in “new money” for 2025–26 from House Bill 2 and about $2.3 million for 2026–27. He said the bill creates a teacher retention allocation that pays classroom teachers $2,500 for teachers with three to four years of experience and $5,000 for teachers with five or more years, and that the district’s proposal translates to an average raise of about 7% for classroom teachers next year. “One of the biggest items…is a teacher retention allocation,” Beatty said. “That provides almost $14,100,000.”

The nut of the proposal is how the district will use that one‑time or biennial state money and what it will do for other staff. Rick Gardner, the district’s compensation presenter, outlined a plan that would recommend a 3% general raise for staff who are not coded by the state as classroom teachers (for example,…