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Cy-Fair ISD first board meeting of the year at Mark Henry Administration Building in Cypress on Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. The district is asking voters to consider a 12 cent tax rate increase, yielding $103 million in extra funding to shore up the district’s $80 million deficit, and a $1.6 billion bond measure in four propositions this November.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Conley\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Five Houston-area school districts are asking voters for a combined $137 million<\/a> in new revenue this November to shore up multi-million dollar budget deficits driven by declining enrollment<\/a>, inflation and rising insurance costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Voters in\u00a0Cy-Fair, Channelview, Huffman, La Porte and Spring ISDs can expect to see a voter-approved tax-rate increase, or VATRE, measure on the Nov. 3 ballot.<\/p>\n At least two other Houston-area districts considered holding a tax-rate increase election but opted not to. Clear Creek ISD’s board discussed the idea but did not move forward, according to Community Impact<\/a>, and Aldine ISD\u2019s board declined the measure in a split vote.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n While the districts are all asking voters for different tax rate increases, one thing unites them: They are running out of options to pay for rising costs. Enrollment declines have put pressure on revenue, while inflation has risen since the pandemic. Some districts have already closed schools to bring costs down, but closing schools isn’t always a viable solution to solve enrollment and budget issues.<\/p>\n \u201cI do think it’s notable \u2014 almost more notable than that these districts are going out for a tax rate election \u2014 is that they didn’t for this long,\u201d said Amanda Brownson, deputy executive director of policy and research at the Texas Association of School Business Officials. \u201cThey really tried to hold out as long as they could.\u201d<\/p>\n ELECTIONS: Cy-Fair ISD to ask voters for tax rate increase, $1.6B bond in November<\/a><\/p>\n The latest batch of districts asking voters for more revenue follows at least four other Houston-area districts that put a similar\u00a0proposal on the ballot\u00a0in the last two years<\/a>. Alief ISD and Montgomery ISD passed tax-rate increases<\/a> in 2024, while Spring and Magnolia ISDs’ elections for higher tax rates failed the same year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Spring ISD\u00a0is trying again for a tax rate increase this year, while Magnolia ISD is not. Magnolia held a successful bond election <\/a>earlier this year, which did not increase the tax rate, and leaders said in meetings they wanted to keep that promise, according to Community Impact<\/a>.<\/p>\n How ‘disaster pennies’ have helped<\/p>\n Some local districts have also turned to another option to increase the tax rate without asking voters by\u00a0accessing \u201cdisaster pennies.”<\/a> These additional cents that can be added to the district’s tax rate if state leaders declared a disaster and districts had to make costly emergency repairs. It can be a back door to more revenue because in many cases, the revenue from the “disaster pennies” can exceed the cost for repairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Houston, Fort Bend, La Porte and Cy-Fair ISDs have all utilized disaster pennies<\/a> to increase revenue at least once in the past two years, although La Porte ISD has done even more than that. The district, which sits on the northwest corner of Galveston Bay, has used disaster pennies seven times in the last 10 years to provide temporary financial relief. Now, the district is asking voters for a permanent tax rate solution.<\/p>\n The tax proposals come as Republican lawmakers are putting extra scrutiny on school district property taxes. Just last week, state Sen. Paul Bettencourt\u2019s office published an analysis showing that\u00a0four out of 10 Texas homeowners<\/a> don’t pay school district property taxes at all, and Gov. Greg Abbott has made eliminating school property taxes<\/a> a key pillar of his plan to overhaul property taxes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n NEWS: Nearly 40% of Texas homeowners pay no school property taxes, Senate analysis finds<\/a><\/p>\n Still, the tax rate elections for schools have crossed party lines in some districts. Two members of the Cy-Fair ISD board, who sit in nonpartisan seats but have been endorsed by the Harris County Republican Party, voted in favor of holding the election to raise taxes, saying they didn\u2019t see another option. Only one Cy-Fair trustee voted against the measure last month.<\/p>\n What are some of the factors at play?<\/p>\n State lawmakers increased public school funding in 2025<\/a>, giving districts $55 more per student in base funding, plus $3.5 billion for teacher raises and $430 million for school safety. But Houston-area district leaders have said it wasn\u2019t enough to offset higher costs driven by inflation since the COVID-19 pandemic, and declining enrollment has worsened their finances.\u00a0<\/p>\n EXPLORE: Search our map to see how much your Texas school district will get after lawmakers\u2019 $8.5 billion boost<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cYes, they got new revenue, but costs are also growing really rapidly, right? And so the same inflation that’s impacting families is impacting schools,\u201d\u00a0Brownson said.\u00a0\u201cEspecially when enrollment has stagnated or started to tick down. It can be very hard to cut costs as fast as you lose revenue if enrollment falls.\u201d<\/p>\n Cy-Fair ISD lost 3,200\u00a0students last year <\/a>which left a $13 million shortfall. But in a large district, enrollment losses don\u2019t immediately mean closing schools or hiring less staff because those losses can be spread out among dozens of campuses.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat revenue dries up instantly, but the cost takes longer to absorb,\u201d Brownson said. \u201cBefore you lose enough students to eliminate a classroom or eliminate a campus, you’ve got a lot of positions that have to be funded to keep those going.\u201d<\/p>\n Some districts that are going out for these elections have already closed schools, including Spring ISD, which\u00a0closed two schools last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n SCHOOL CLOSURES: Houston-area districts closed 26 schools over the past year. Here’s a look.<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n While Aldine ISD\u2019s board decided not to hold a tax rate increase election, the district has closed more campuses than most Houston-area districts. In the past two years,\u00a0Aldine\u00a0has shuttered 11\u00a0schools<\/a> due to declining enrollment and the related lost revenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAldine ISD is facing an approximately $42 million budget deficit. The proposed VATRE could have generated approximately $20 million in additional revenue to help address nearly half of that deficit,\u201d wrote Trustee Kimberly Booker on her candidate social media page<\/a>. \u201cNow we have to answer the difficult question: How will Aldine ISD close a $42 million deficit while protecting the people, programs, and services our students need?\u201d<\/p>\n Booker did not respond to a request for additional comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Making the financial picture more complicated for districts, lawmakers also froze local optional\u00a0homestead\u00a0exemptions. Their reasoning: Texans wouldn’t see financial relief from property tax compression and expanding homestead exemptions if school districts removed their local tax exemptions. Now school districts that already had a local optional homestead exemption in place before the 89th Legislature cannot amend or change that exemption to offset rising costs until 2028.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cy-Fair and La Porte ISDs\u00a0both offer these exemptions.\u00a0<\/p>\n What is a tax rate increase election?<\/p>\n Texas school districts can hold elections to increase the tax rate above state-calculated the maximum compressed tax rate, but some homeowners will not see any tax impact due to recent property tax compression and Texas\u2019 increasing homestead exemptions. For example, in Huffman\u00a0ISD, the voter-approved tax rate for 2026-27 would be the same as last year\u2019s tax rate, even though it is an increase from the maximum compressed rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n Voter-approved tax rate elections have existed in some form since 2006, Brownson said. Tax rates can’t be raised more than 12 cents, and many Texas districts have already accessed some of those extra cents. School boards can add five additional cents to the tax rate without voter approval.\u00a0 Some revenue from the increased tax rate can be subject to recapture by the state, which collects the money from property-wealthy districts to close funding gaps\u00a0with property-poor ones.<\/p>\n These elections can only be held in November, and they tend to occur in the year after a legislative session,\u00a0Brownson said. They generate revenue to a different bucket of funding than school bonds, which are debt and can only be used for capital projects. This is why a district may hold both a tax-increase and a bond election.\u00a0<\/p>\n BACKGROUND: Knee-deep in budget woes, Houston-area districts plead for increased revenue from taxpayers and the state<\/a><\/p>\n The proposals that Houston-area voters will see on the ballot this fall vary by district size and need. But one thing in common is\u00a0the stated need for more revenue. The five districts have projected over $100 million in combined budget deficits.<\/p>\n For some, the tax rate increase would cover only a portion of the expected budget shortfall for the 2026-27 school year. For others, it will\u00a0erase\u00a0the deficits altogether. The elections, if approved, would also potentially stave off a further cuts if the Legislature doesn’t provide additional funding in the upcoming session.<\/p>\n Some voters will also see bond proposals on the ballot, asking if a school district can buy bonds for capital repairs, new buildings, athletics upgrades or other items that are too expensive to cover with general operating dollars.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cy-Fair, Channelview and Crosby ISDs are all holding bond elections this November. Magnolia, Barbers Hill,\u00a0Friendswood and Royal ISDs all sought bond elections in May of this year. They were largely successful: all passed except one of Friendswood ISD\u2019s four propositions.\u00a0<\/p>\n What is each district asking for?\u00a0<\/p>\n Texas\u2019 third-largest school system is asking voters to weigh in on five ballot items<\/a> this month. The first is the voter-approved tax rate increase, where the district is asking for the maximum of 12 cents. That would generate about $103.6 million in revenue to erase the expected $80 million deficit this school year.\u00a0<\/p>\n This deficit comes after Cy-Fair ISD already cut almost $100 million from its budget over the past two years, including eliminating librarian, counselor and instructional support staff positions. Leaders also tried cutting bus transportation one year, but restored it after community protests. A large part of the district\u2019s deficit this year comes from transportation costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n