Spring ISD reviews HB2 windfall, proposes teacher pay scale and local offsets amid budget shortfall

Spring Independent School District trustees on Thursday reviewed the provisions of the recently enacted House Bill 2 and a proposed 2025-26 budget that pairs state allotments with local spending to raise teacher pay while managing a projected deficit.

The district's chief financial staff, led by Ms. Justine Westbrooks, told the board the new law creates several streams of revenue the district expects to use for pay increases and other costs but that implementation rules remain unsettled and are still being clarified by the Texas Education Agency.

The teacher retention allotment, as described by Westbrooks, provides flat payments for classroom teachers with at least three years of experience. "Teachers that have 3 or 4 years of experience will receive $2,500, and teachers that have 5 or more years of experience will receive $5,000," Westbrooks said. Spring ISD's preliminary estimate of revenue tied to that allotment is about $6.3 million, she said; the district noted the TEA files used to calculate that figure had disclaimers and asterisks and could change as implementation guidance arrives.

Why it matters: HB2 narrows some local choices while creating targeted recurring dollars for compensation. That reduces uncertainty for immediate raises but — as trustees repeatedly noted — does not eliminate longer-term fiscal pressure: Spring ISD is projecting a budget deficit under current law and must reconcile budget adoption deadlines with still-evolving state guidance.

Key provisions and local proposal - Allotment for basic cost (called "ABC" in staff materials): an additional $106 per enrolled student the district estimates will yield roughly $3.5 million and may be used for benefits, insurance and other cost categories. - Support staff retention allotment: calculated at $45 times regular-program average daily attendance; Westbrooks estimated about $1.1 million for Spring ISD. The district said the cost to provide comparable raises to non-teacher staff would exceed $3.5 million, meaning the allotment covers less than half of that local cost. - School safety allotment: increased from $10 to $20 per ADA and from a $15,000 campus minimum to $33,540, generating a little over $1 million in additional funding for the district to offset increased security staffing costs.

Proposed pay changes presented to trustees - A new teacher pay scale that groups teachers, librarians and interventionists together with a proposed starting salary of $62,750. - For 2025-26 staff recommended: a $2,725 payment for employees with 0to 2 years of experience (a locally funded 4% midpoint increase for those steps) and a $5,000 retention payment for teachers with five or more years of experience (the $5,000 equals a roughly 7.3% increase relative to the teacher midpoint). That $2,725 figure was presented as the districtrecommended way to deliver a 4% general increase for the earlier steps while preserving the state-funded $5,000 for later steps. - A one-time $1,000 benefit incentive for returning employees (to be paid on the November 25 payroll) aimed at offsetting rising health-care costs; trustees asked staff to cost alternatives, including a $1,500 one-time payment.

Board direction and uncertainties Trustees pressed staff for sensitivity to market competition and for alternatives that would make Spring ISD more competitive with neighboring districts. Several trustees emphasized that because the state allotments are uniform across districts, the HB2 changes alone will not change Spring ISD's market position unless the district uses additional local funds.

Trustees asked staff to return at the June 24 budget adoption meeting with additional scenarios. On the record they asked for at least these options to be costed and presented Tuesday: (a) a plan that combines the $5,000 retention with an additional 4% local increase (an effective 11.3% change for certain steps), (b) an option raising the one-time benefit to $1,500, and (c) alternative structures that would increase competitiveness without causing unsustainable multi-year deficits.

Fiscal context and deadlines Westbrooks told the board the district ended May with 33,193 students and updated its projection to 33,678 for budget planning. Staff recommended adopting the budget on current law (including use of disaster pennies) and then adjusting revenues and expenditures after the district receives final implementation guidance and the July property-value certification. Under the current-law posting the district would show a projected $6.5 million deficit for 2025-26; staff also reminded the board that earlier projections had shown larger deficits in prior years and that the district has a running gap it must manage.

What happens next Trustees scheduled adoption of a budget on June 24 and directed staff to provide refined revenue figures and the additional compensation scenarios at that meeting. Staff said they expect TEA implementation guidance and additional vendor webinars in the coming days that may change how the allotments are coded and which employees they cover.

Speakers quoted or referenced in this article are members of the Spring ISD leadership team and the board of trustees.