At the March 16 budget workshop meeting, Tomball ISD Chief Financial Officer Zack Boles projected the district's fiscal year 2026-27 general fund revenue to be around $255 million. Boles said the audited budget for TISD in FY 2025-26 was $238.3 million; this new budget is a $16.7 million increase.
The projections
Boles’ presentation addressed not only the increased revenue compared to the 2025-26 budget but also the various issues the district will need to address in the next fiscal year. The various goals the district hopes to address with this higher budget include staff recruitment and retention, making TISD a destination district, and providing well-maintained facilities for students.
The issues that TISD has to address to achieve these goals include two new campuses, operational costs increases, enrollment growth and inflation, Boles said.
As previously reported by Community Impact, TISD has the opening of Tomball West High School and Creekside Junior High School's fifth grade expansion in August 2026. Boles said the opening of the two new facilities had led to “quite a bit of additional costs”; however, competitive salaries to hire and keep teachers are a high priority.
As it currently stands, staff salaries make up 88% of the total budget of the district, meaning the board has to be “flexible” with its remaining costs, Boles said.
At the Capitol
TISD has received some support from the state level to address the district's funding needs. In June 2025, the Texas 89th Legislature passed an $8.5 billion funding bill—House Bill 2. HB 2's primary focus was to help increase teacher pay, special education funding, and allotment increases, as previously reported.
Boles said HB 2 generated an overall funding increase of $11.8 million for the district. The basic breakdown of the funding is as follows:
- Regular and maintained programs: $1.86 million
- Safety allotment: $630,000
- Teacher retention allotment: $6 million
- Support staff retention allotment: $888,000
- Allotment for basic costs: $2.43 million
This is also the first time that TISD will adopt a budget where total state funding is more than 50% of total funding from the district, Boles said.
What to expect
At the workshop meeting, Boles laid out the standard timeline TISD follows when finalizing the upcoming year's budget.
- March-May: budget committee meetings
- April/May: board budget workshops, certified estimates of property values
- June: public hearing and adoption of the 2026-27 budget
- July: certified property values received from Harris and Montgomery counties
- September: adopt the tax rate
Boles says that the district is required by law to adopt the updated budget in June, and the process will be finalized in September with the adopted tax rate.
