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Pearland ISD anticipates a shortfall of nearly $3.2 million for fiscal year 2026-27, which was approved at the June 9 board of trustees meeting.
The district’s new fiscal year begins July 1, meaning the district must approve its budget before June 30, according to district documents.
The overview
Trustees approved nearly $235 million in expenses and around $231 million in revenue for FY 2026-27, budget documents show.
Payroll costs account for 83% of the district's budget, PISD Superintendent Larry Berger said at the meeting.
Since the May 12 budget workshop, expenditures have increased by nearly $5.8 million, including:
How we got here
The district appeared to be in a surplus during the previous workshop in part due to $2.5 million for the teacher incentive allotment, or TIA. At the May 12 workshop, state revenue was included without the matching payments to staff being fully built into the expenditure side, Berger said at the meeting.
He added that additional compensation adjustments approved at the May 12 meeting, along with increased inflation and contingency costs, had not yet been reflected into earlier projections.
By the June 9 meeting, those adjustments had been added into the budget, contributing to the projected shortfall.
“It was probably poor planning to wait to place that TIA [expense],” Berger said.
What residents need to know
The district is also projecting a tax rate of $1.135 for FY 2026-27. This tax rate combines $0.7869 for maintenance and operations, or M&O, which pays for daily operations, and $0.3481 for interest and sinking, or I&S, which pays bond debt, according to budget documents.
Based on that rate, a homeowner with a median homestead taxable value of $232,260 would have an estimated annual property tax bill of about $2,636.15, documents show.
Also of note
According to district documents, the district’s budget assumptions include:
Current enrollment is around 20,600 students with an ADA rate of 95.8%, as previously reported by Community Impact.
The district’s long‑range forecast shows continued enrollment decline, with projections showing an $11 million drop in state funding by 2030, trustee Sean Murphy said at the meeting.
“It would be logical, as the revenues go down, we are going to have to plan how to get those expenditures to come down, while not impacting the outcome of students,” Berger said.
The decline reflects a broader regional trend, with several Greater Houston-area districts also declining in enrollment, as previously reported by Community Impact.
Looking ahead
The district's projected tax rate may be updated once final certified property values are received by July 25, with trustees scheduled to adopt the tax rate at its Aug. 11 meeting, according to district documents.
