Tomball ISD approved a $230.3 million balanced general fund budget for fiscal year 2025-26 at its special meeting June 17. The budget includes pay raises for all district employees.

Two-minute impact

With the help of a $11.8 million boost in funding from the state after Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 2 into law on June 4, TISD plans to spend roughly $6.3 million on the teacher retention allotment, which will be used to provide permanent raises for teachers with at least three years of classroom experience.

School board members also unanimously approved a 2% pay increase for all support staff and a 1% pay increase for all administrative staff.

“Do I wish that the increase was more? Absolutely. Do I think that we can do that in the future? Absolutely. Maybe not this year ... but definitely as we move forward, I would hope,” Superintendent Martha Salazar-Zamora said at the meeting. “I'm grateful to be at a balanced budget tonight.”

Diving in deeper

The teacher retention allotment plan, which specifically applies to classroom teachers at TISD, includes:

• $2,500 raise for teachers with three to four years of experience
• $5,000 raise for teachers with five or more years of experience

“We need to continue to advocate for fair and appropriate compensation for teachers and staff, so that will continue to be a theme that I would like to pursue as we continue to refine our advocacy platform,” TISD school board President Michael Pratt said.Also of note

The approved balanced budget for FY 2025-26 differs from the projected $3 million budget shortfall presented at a May 12 budget workshop.

Some of the expenditures in the approved general fund budget for FY 2025-26 include:

• $150.9 million for instruction
• $12.4 million for campus leadership
• $10.4 million for transportation
• $22.8 million for plant maintenance and operations