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, many administrators, counselors and classified employees). Gardner said the combination of the state allotment and the district recommendation would leave the district positioned to consider a second‑year pay action in 2026–27, but he repeatedly warned trustees that the state provided most of the new revenue only for one year of the biennium and that the district will need to plan for the smaller 2026–27 allocation.

Trustees pressed multiple budget details during the roughly two‑hour discussion. Several trustees asked whether the district could reallocate money from the first year to give larger increases to non‑teacher staff now; Beatty and Gardner responded that doing so would reduce flexibility and could force smaller raises or cuts in 2026–27. “If we go too far, it will just come with a cut somewhere else,” Beatty said.

Staff outlined several specific budget items: - Special education: a recommended $2.0 million package to add assessment and health services positions, 14 special education teachers, dyslexia supports and assessment software. - Health insurance: a roughly $1 million employer increase to premiums plus a small employee premium increase for the primary plan (no increase to the high‑deductible plan). Beatty said the district’s employee health plan remains “very rich” compared with peer districts but that participation has grown above 80% and some premium adjustments are needed to stabilize costs. - New middle school staffing: opening Lake Houston Middle School is estimated at almost $4.0 million and about 82 staff members (including ~39 general‑education teachers, 9 special‑education teachers, paras, a principal, counselors, nurse, librarian, custodians and a police officer). - Child nutrition and capital needs: the district plans targeted spending to draw down a child nutrition fund balance that grew during COVID and one‑time capital requests for playground maintenance, vehicles and technology warehouse lease extensions tied to the 2022 bond device replacement program.

Board members repeatedly raised public safety and police recruitment as priorities. Chief Cook (Chief of Police) asked whether an entry pay target would be sufficient to stem officer departures to local agencies; the discussion included a specific staff projection to raise entry pay for officers toward $68,000 and trustee requests to consider $70,000 plus retention stipends. Beatty estimated recurring budget pressure of roughly $50,000 to begin a 5‑ and 10‑year retention stipend program for campus safety officers.

Public comment preceded the budget presentation. Jacob Newsom, who identified himself as the founder of Sinclair Scholars and Power of the Narrative, criticized the district’s contracting process and said his group filed a complaint with the Texas Education Agency after not receiving responses from the district. “Your budget says one thing… but your actions, they tell another story,” Newsom said. Doctor Yvonne Martinez urged greater community engagement and encouraged younger residents to pursue local office.

Trustees asked district staff to develop final numbers before the board’s June 17 budget adoption meeting. Beatty and Gardner said work will continue on compensation detail, position‑by‑position market comparisons and mid‑year or targeted adjustments where the district is significantly below market.

Next steps: staff will return with final budget and compensation figures for a June 17 adoption vote; until then, the board did not take final action on the proposed pay or budget items.