Liberty Hill ISD has become one of the fastest growing districts in Central Texas with nearly 1,000 new students joining the district each year. Nearly 2,000 new homes are built in the district annually, which is the third highest amount of new home construction in the Austin area, Zonda Demographics Vice President Bob Templeton said.

“Liberty Hill is going to be a very strong growth district for at least the next 10 years,” Templeton said.

Despite its enrollment growth, the district has projected mounting budget shortfalls in recent fiscal years. Now, the district is seeking to generate an additional $10.9 million in revenue by asking voters to approve a $0.07 increase to its tax rate in a Nov. 4 election.

Two-minute impact

LHISD is looking to propose a voter-approval tax rate election, or VATRE, this November. This would increase a homeowner’s annual property tax bill by $341 in FY 2025-26 based on a median home value of $516,513, Chief Financial Officer Rosanna Guerrero said.

If the election is not successful, district leaders say $4 million in additional cuts could be coming.

“We want to be able to say that we’re providing the best educational experience,” interim Superintendent Travis Motal said. “It’s going to be hard to do that if we keep having to cut, cut, cut, cut just to get to a balanced budget.”

District officials told •Community Impact• they are hopeful that this year’s calendar, which features many four-day school weeks, will provide greater support to teachers who may be impacted by the loss of support staff due to budget cuts.

“That voter-approved tax ratification election is to potentially add $10 million back into that hole that’s been dug,” Motal said. “We want to remain a top district in Williamson County.”

The district made around $8 in budget cuts over the past two fiscal years and is projected to realize a $2 million budget deficit in FY 2024-25.

Some context

LHISD is undergoing sweeping changes this school year to prepare for fast enrollment growth while facing budgetary constraints.

The district’s enrollment of over 10,000 students is expected to nearly double to nearly 19,500 students by the 2034-35 school year, according to data from Zonda Demographics. This school year, the district will hire additional teachers to accommodate growth and staff three new campuses opening in 2026.

In the 2025 legislative session, state lawmakers increased school funding by $8.4 billion.

Bob Popinski, dean of policy for educational advocacy group Raise Your Hand Texas, said new funding under House Bill 2 was “well short of what school districts needed” to keep up with rising costs of utilities and fuel along with keeping staff salaries competitive. The basic allotment of funding per student, which increased by $55 under HB 2, would need to be raised by $1,400 to account for inflation, Popinksi said.

“We would need roughly $19.8 billion for the next two years just to keep school districts level with their purchasing power from 2019,” Popinski said.••The $12.7 million in HB 2 funding does not fully cover the district’s expenses for insurance and utilities, safety and security as well as special education evaluations, Guerrero said. HB 2 provides $2,500-$5,000 raises for teachers, but the district must pay for the benefits, Guerrero said.

One more thing

Under LHISD’s new calendar, teachers will have time for professional development in the morning and a teacher work day in the afternoon on Fridays when students do not attend school.

In September, LHISD community member Rachael Dunn will open Panther House Friday School to provide education and extracurricular programming for around 30 elementary students when school is not in session.

“We know it’s not ideal, but ... if we want the same high-quality expectation that we have in the classroom, we have to be able to give our teachers time in order to be ready for that,” Motal said.

Looking ahead

Last school year, LHISD used the site of its future third middle school campus, Legacy Ranch Middle School, to temporarily serve incoming high school students until the new high school campus is complete.

In August 2026, the district will open the official Legacy Ranch High School campus off CR 258 and open Legacy Ranch Middle School to sixth through eighth graders. The opening of a second high school was needed as Liberty Hill High School is close to exceeding its capacity of 2,200 students, Motal said.

“We really felt like it was better to build a second high school and expand the opportunities for the kids that we have rather than try to crowd them all into one building,” Motal said.

The district will open Elementary School No. 8 in the Lariat neighborhood in 2026 and Elementary School No. 9 in the Saddleback at Santa Rita Ranch subdivision in 2027. These campuses will be designed to accommodate 1,000 students per campus.

This fall, the district will begin the process of rezoning school campuses ahead of the 2026-27 school year. The district will form a committee in September to provide input on rezoning before the board of trustees vote in January, Motal said.

Managing the impact

A week into the 2025-26 school year, Motal said teachers are already sharing concerns about crowded classrooms. Going forward, Motal said teachers may feel the impact of the $5 million in eliminated positions.

The district is phasing out its two-way dual language Spanish program after cutting its 14 emergent bilingual paraprofessionals. The district eliminated seven gifted and talented teachers, seven STEM special teachers and four English-as-a-second-language interventionists.

Stay tuned

If the VATRE is approved, LHISD could reinvest $7.4 million into student programs, $1.3 million into safety and security initiatives, and $2.2 million in raises.

If the VATRE does not pass, LHISD may need to make $4 million in cuts in FY 2026-27, Motal said. The district could consider not opening Legacy Ranch Middle School or Elementary School No. 8 in 2026, he said. Other cost saving options include increasing class sizes and sharing staff.