Alvin ISD’s board of trustees approved an amendment during its May 12 meeting to move forward with a 3% cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for employees as a planning assumption in the fiscal year 2026-27 budget.
The details
The agenda item originally reflected a proposed 2% COLA adjustment. Trustee Albert 'AJ' Johnson proposed an amendment at the meeting to increase the adjustment to 3%, which passed unanimously.
“I understand the position that we’re in and not certain what the state will do,” Johnson said at the meeting. “But I believe we have the ability to find a way. We’ve done it for the past two years, and I’d like to see us continue that.”
During the meeting, district officials emphasized the desire to maintain a balanced budget for FY 2026-27, noting that non-annual expenses could be examined to identify potential areas for reductions.
The context
The discussion came after the board’s May 5 budget workshop, where AISD’s Chief Financial Officer Daniel Combs presented an update on the district’s budget projections and priorities for FY 2026-27.
While the state funded teacher salary increases through the Teacher Retention Allotment, or TRA, following the 89th Texas Legislature, ongoing COLAs are not supported through dedicated state funding, according to district documents.
Previous COLA adjustments are already built into payroll and continue to compound over time, Combs said at the workshop.
“Once they're built in, and they're put into payroll to go out, to do another 3% on top of that, it's actually a larger 3%,” he said.
While the district can sustain raises previously implemented, the proposed 2026-27 budget was initially developed without an additional COLA increase built into expenditures, Combs said.
“If we do something in relation to that, it could have us where our budgeted expenditures are in excess of our budgeted revenue from the onset of the year,” he said. “Time over time over time, it's not sustainable without additional revenue.”
What’s next
District officials will revisit the 3% COLA during additional budget discussions in June as they continue refining the FY 2026-27 budget, with a focus on keeping expenditures balanced with projected revenue.
