Boerne ISD adopts 2025–26 budget, proposes three-penny plan to boost teacher pay

The Boerne Independent School District Board of Trustees on June 16 adopted the district 2025——12026 general fund, child nutrition and debt service budgets after public hearings on federal grants and the budget.

Trustees and district finance staff framed the vote around House Bill 2, property-tax relief legislation passed by the Texas Legislature and a local Competitive Strategic Financial Plan (CSFP) that trustees discussed as a path to raise starting teacher pay.

Chief Business Officer Wes Scott said HB2 contained the new teacher retention allotment and a fixed-cost allotment of $106 per enrolled student that together increased state funding for BISD, but an inserted hold-harmless change in the session reduced funding for a subset of districts and produced an estimated $2.4 million loss for Boerne ISD. The net effect, Scott said, left the district with an estimated $3.8 million in new state resources before local decisions.

Scott and the board outlined the CSFP proposal: adoption of three additional "golden pennies" (a local tax levy category that is not subject to recapture) to raise revenue dedicated to compensation and capital-replacement items. The district said the plan would target a $60,000 starting salary for new teachers, raise professional hourly pay and boost auxiliary and paraprofessional starting wages, while preserving the state-mandated teacher retention allotment for eligible teachers.

"Even with HB2, our funding per student remains comparatively low in the region," Scott said, noting the district estimates the teacher-retention allotment impact on BISD at about $3 million and the fixed-cost allotment at roughly $1.2 million. Scott said the district modeled a net increase after offsets and that adopting three pennies would produce a balanced budget under the CSFP assumptions.

Trustees asked about timing and implementation if local voters are needed. Scott said the board is adopting a budget that assumes the additional pennies but that full implementation of the CSFP would depend on outcomes from a possible voter-approval tax ratification election later this year; if the board moves forward with a voter election, an efficiency audit (required by state law) has been contracted to inform voters.

Trustee discussion also covered projections for enrollment growth, state funding uncertainty tied to appraisal values, and a statement that some of the increased funding is already earmarked for required compensation changes. Trustee Rich Sitta, who helped lead advocacy around the session, described intense, last-minute activity in the Legislature that affected district funding formulas.

The board approved the 2025——12026 budgets by voice vote (motion, second), with the motion carrying. The district also approved a set of budget amendments, donation and tax-collection reports tied to year-end reconciliation.