College Station ISD staff outline budget pressure from rising costs, proposed state bills and declining enrollment

Miss Wilson, a College Station ISD staff member who presented the district's 2025'26 budget update, told the school board the 89th Texas Legislature's actions and proposed bills will be decisive for the district's final staffing and budget decisions.

The presentation outlined several parallel pressures: proposed increases to the basic allotment in a committee substitute for House Bill 2, draft changes in special education and bilingual funding in other bills, and broad inflationary cost increases the district must absorb now. Miss Wilson said the committee substitute to House Bill 2 would raise the basic allotment from $6,160 to $6,555 and that a separate Senate bill (Senate Bill 26) and other measures under consideration would change teacher raise formulas and some hold-harmless provisions.

The budget update explained why those changes matter. Miss Wilson said the district's formulas are tied to the basic allotment and to the so-called 'golden penny yield.' She said proposals that shift revenue between those mechanisms could reduce the district's routine inflationary adjustment unless the Legislature preserves it. She also said the Legislature is considering increases to special education, bilingual and early education allotments and a new…