Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Spring ISD board adopts 2026–27 preliminary budget, adds one-time $1,000 returning-teacher incentive
Summary
After committee-by-committee votes on dozens of line-item recommendations, the Spring ISD Board of Trustees adopted a preliminary 2026–27 budget amended to include special education stipends, guest-teacher pay increases, a $99,999 marketing increase and a one-time $1,000 stipend for returning teachers; administration says the amended budget still projects a deficit.
The Spring Independent School District Board of Trustees on June 23 adopted a preliminary 2026–27 operating budget amended with a series of committee recommendations and one-time incentives.
Interim Chief Financial Officer Rhonda Johnson presented two draft budgets — one assuming passage of a voter-approval tax-rate election (an additional five pennies, which administration estimates would generate about $20 million) and a baseline without that voter approval. With the five pennies assumed, administration presented projected revenues of about $335.7 million and baseline expenditures near $349.9 million, producing a projected deficit before board amendments. Johnson said administration built the budget using an enrollment projection of about 30,860 students and assumed the maximum compressed rate allowed by the state (0.6169).
After a public hearing with two speakers, the board voted on more than a dozen committee recommendations. Among measures the board approved were a special-education critical-shortage stipend package, an enhanced monthly payment for special-education guest teachers who meet attendance thresholds, a $5 daily increase to substitute pay, and a $99,999 increase to the district marketing budget. Trustees also approved modest program reductions and operational savings recommended by budget committees, including centralized printing and a summer energy shutdown projected to save about $200,000.
President Durant proposed and the board unanimously approved a one-time $1,000 stipend for all returning teachers. "We want to protect our people — buildings do not change lives, our people do," Superintendent Quayar said during the meeting, praising staff and school-based teams for recent academic gains.
Johnson said the board’s motions added roughly $1.29 million in net items (stipends, incentives and the marketing increase), moving the projected deficit to approximately $16.1 million after amendments. She told trustees the district had made a claim with its insurer for several facilities-related emergency expenses and that administration would adjust fund transfers and use reserves as required.
Board members questioned several items and asked for more documentation on vendor background and on program-specific cost-per-student projections. Trustee Jensen pressed for clearer return-on-investment metrics for sizeable stipends and asked that district leaders incorporate outcome projections in the district’s program grid. Johnson agreed to provide follow-up details on funding sources and the cost-benefit assumptions.
The board approved the amended preliminary budget unanimously and instructed administration to present the finalized, adjusted documents for public posting and the required truth-in-taxation filings. The budget adoption is preliminary pending the voter-approval election outcome; if voters do not approve the additional pennies, Johnson said the district will adjust the budget during the first budget review for 2026–27.
Actions: The board approved the preliminary 2026–27 budget as amended, approved the special-education stipends and guest-teacher incentives, increased marketing funding by $99,999, and approved a one-time $1,000 stipend to returning teachers.
