Houston ISD will spend $125.5M more than planned this fiscal year, despite enrollment declines
Houston ISD’s Board of Managers approved December budget amendments on Tuesday to allocate more money to instruction, campus maintenance and operations, and student transportation, despite an enrollment decline of nearly double what was anticipated.
Budget expenditures for this fiscal year increased by $125.5 million, which State-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles attributed in part to a $57 million recapture payment to the state — coded as Contracted Instructional Services Between Public Schools in the budget amendment.
HISD leaders said Tuesday that enrollment is unofficially at 175,644 students. HISD had expected to drop by about 4,000, but its enrollment slipped by 7,600. Enrollment has been in a freefall since 2019-20, when HISD had nearly 210,000 students. The district’s official enrollment figure, as reported to the Texas Education Agency in October, isn’t expected to be released publicly until January.
