Editor's note: This story has been updated to include comments and information from Klein ISD officials.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, Klein and Spring ISDs have experienced inflated instructional and operating costs, decreased overall student test performance and lowered staff qualifications, federal report card data from the Texas Education Agency shows.

Sorting out details

This March marks five years since the pandemic shut down schools and businesses across the globe in 2020, which left lasting impacts in many industries, including education.

School districts across the Greater Houston area faced budget challenges for the 2024-25 fiscal year; KISD and SISD anticipate about $33 million and $12 million general fund shortfalls, respectively, as previously reported by Community Impact. The districts attributed the shortfalls to factors such as high rates of inflation and a lack of additional funding from the state.


According to the TEA’s federal report cards:
  • Total per-pupil spending spiked 14.7% and 26% for KISD and SISD, respectively, from the 2018-19 school year to 2022-23.
  • KISD and SISD saw a 13.3% and a 23.5% increase in instructional costs from the 2018-19 school year to 2022-23, respectively.
“Despite efforts to reduce costs, the district continues to prioritize student success, teacher support and operational needs, all of which contribute to the overall increase in per-pupil expenditures,” SISD leaders said in a Feb. 18 emailed statement.
Breaking down the data

Since before the pandemic, the number of teachers without certifications for the subjects they’re teaching and the amount of inexperienced teachers and principals have risen at both KISD and SISD, data shows.

According to TEA’s reports, teachers without certifications in the subject they're teaching:
  • Rose 7.8 percentage points from the 2018-19 school year to the 2023-24 school year for KISD
  • Increased 21.2 percentage points for SISD from the 2018-19 school year to the 2023-24 school year
KISD has invested in employees so the district can retain good teachers, Chief of Human Resource Services Bob Anderson said via a March 11 emailed statement.

"KISD has successfully attracted and retained talented educators by maintaining a supportive professional environment, investing in competitive compensation packages, enhancing teacher recognition programs and prioritizing professional growth opportunities," Anderson said.
Dig deeper


For students in grades 3-8, KISD and SISD saw overall lowered student passage rates for the spring 2024 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness versus the spring 2019 test scores, according to TEA data.

According to the data, STAAR scores for grades 3-8:
  • Decreased from spring 2019 to spring 2024 at SISD for math and for reading, except for fourth, sixth and seventh grade reading—which improved—and eighth grade reading, which was unchanged
  • Fell from spring 2019 to spring 2024 at KISD, except for increases seen for fourth grade math and reading; and sixth grade reading
“Unlike literacy, numeracy builds upon concepts/skills and during the pandemic there was interrupted education, thus creating gaps in the sequence of mathematical skills that needed to have been learned,” SISD leaders said.
Major takeaways

To address challenges that arose during the pandemic, KISD and SISD leaders said both districts have implemented programs and initiatives to improve student academics and retain and recruit staff.

Examples of programs implemented at SISD and KISD in response to pandemic impacts include:
  • Tutorial and intervention programs
  • More personalized student support