Humble ISD’s 2026-27 budget, recently approved by the district’s board of trustees, includes significant investments in special education and staff compensation. The district’s Chief Financial Officer, Billy Beattie, presented the budget during the board’s June 9 meeting, highlighting a projected surplus of roughly $660,000.
Special Education Initiatives
A recent audit of the special education department guided budget decisions, with approximately $755,000 allocated for various initiatives, including around $582,000 in new positions. These positions include nine full-time equivalent teachers, eight paraprofessionals, two speech language pathologists, one diagnostician, one school psychologist, and four occupational therapists.
Beattie noted that the district needs to provide additional training to meet state requirements, and the new positions will help address this need.
Staff Compensation
The overall pay increase, which encompasses roughly $12.7 million of the district’s budget, will raise the starting salary for new teachers from $66,000 in FY 2025-26 to $68,000 in FY 2026-27. Non-teaching positions, such as bus drivers and custodians, will also receive raises and incentives.
Beattie highlighted an 8% total increase to bus driver and bus aid pay, up to $1,600 per year in incentives for bus drivers, a 4% total increase to custodian pay, and a 6% total increase to high school principal pay.
Tax Rate and Budget Projections
The district’s budget was built around a proposed tax rate of $1.1052 per $100 valuation, which would remain consistent with the district’s tax rate for the previous two years. Average home values within the district’s boundaries rose from roughly $346,000 last year to $348,300 this year, according to budget documents.
While taxes due from individual residents depend on the value of their homes, the average tax bill within the district is projected to increase by roughly $28, rising from an average of around $2,342 last year to roughly $2,370 this year.
Original reporting: Community Impact — Houston — read the source article.
