Edinburg CISD finance committee hears legislative update; district models $600 per-student gain if House Bill 2 survives

Edinburg CISD finance officials and a school-finance consultant on Wednesday warned the district’s finance committee that the state legislative session will determine key revenue assumptions for the 2025–26 budget and that uncertainty could leave the district with a multimillion-dollar shortfall.

Josh Haney, senior vice president of finance with Moat Casey, told the committee the session “is going pretty fast and furious” and that school-finance provisions are being considered across many committees in Austin. He said the House’s primary vehicle for increased school funding, House Bill 2, would raise the state basic allotment by $395 and — based on Moat Casey’s modeling — translate into about a $600 per-student gain for Edinburg CISD if the bill’s provisions remain intact.

The committee was told why that matters: district Chief Financial Officer Adele O’Dell (identified in the meeting as the district’s finance presenter) said the district is preparing multiple budget scenarios and that, “if no state aid is provided... we are predicting a $5 to $6,000,000 deficit going into the budget year of 25–26.” O’Dell said the district’s modeling assumes a range of state outcomes and that staff are working on compensation scenarios to show what different levels of state aid would allow.

House Bill 2 and related budget proposals. Haney summarized…