The details
The Texas Senate is preparing to consider a substitute for House Bill 2. The original House bill suggested a $395 increase to the basic allotment for schools, but the Senate's proposed substitute significantly reduces this to a $55 increase, according to an NISD news release.
The news release states the funding decrease would effectively defund classrooms and student programs by “providing woefully insufficient funding to meet state mandates and increasing fixed costs.”
The backstory
According to previous Community Impact reporting, the state has not increased the per student allotment of $6,160 since 2019. Inflation since that year has increased nearly 26%. This failure to increase state funding has caused NISD to face a $16 million shortfall for the 2025-26 school year.
The district news release states school districts across the state would need an increase of $1,360 in the basic allotment to address increased fixed costs. At a $395 increase, the original HB2 bill provided only 30% of the funding needed to combat increased fixed costs and unfunded mandates from the state. At a $55 increase, the Senate substitute for the bill represents just 4% of the necessary funding needed, according to the district news release.
A closer look
According to the news release, the proposed $55 increase would force NISD to consider further increases to class sizes and potential program reductions. School closures and consolidations would also be on the table.
NISD Board President Steve Sprowls said $55 represents less than one-one thousandth of a percent increase with regard to the 26% inflation increase since 2019.
“That doesn’t even begin to do what it needs to do, because with that $55 we have to fund all of the inflationary adjusted expenses and pay raises for staff that are not part of teacher pay raises,” Sprowls said.
Sprowls said that while the district still needs to finalize its budget and officials need to see what the final numbers are from the 89th Legislative session, if this version of the bill passes and HB2 includes a $55 increase to the basic allotment, a voter-approved tax rate election could be on the ballot in the fall.
“I don’t see how we don’t do it,” Sprowls said.
The district’s last VATRE, which was on the November 2024 ballot, failed in all three counties that NISD serves.
What you need to know
The news release states community members can contact the following legislators to express their school funding concerns as laid out in the various versions of HB2:
- Legislators who represent Northwest ISD as well as the
- Legislators who serve on the Texas Senate Committee on Education
- Texas Senate as a whole
