With a balanced general fund budget forecasted for fiscal year 2026-27, Montgomery ISD’s draft budget includes a 3% pay raise for all employees.
The gist
During MISD trustees’ June 9 special meeting, MISD Chief Financial Officer Ben Davidson presented the district’s FY 2026-27 draft budget. The draft general fund budget features:
- $108.9 million in both total revenues and total expenditures
- $3.96 million in both total expenditure increases and total revenue increases compared to the FY 2025-26 budget
- $2.25 million to fund the 3% pay raises, which will be calculated from the midpoint value of pay grades, for all employees
- $221,000 for employee pay adjustments and stipends
- $989,367 in expenses for new full-time positions
- $350,000 in additional revenue from tax collections
On April 21, MISD trustees approved $3.6 million for employee raises and retention stipends as part of the district’s 2026-27 compensation plan, as previously reported by Community Impact.
“We did the compensation plan recently—that’s the biggest part of the budget, honestly,” Davidson said June 9. “Eighty percent of our budget is salaries—people. And so when you get that knocked out, you’re in a really good place. It’s a challenge to get there, as we all know. … We did 3% raises for everybody. That’s a meaningful increase across the board.”
The employee retention stipends approved on April 21 will be paid for using funds from the FY 2025-26 budget, Chief of Staff Justin Marino said via a June 11 email.
Breaking it down
According to Davidson’s presentation, new staff positions will be added for the 2026-27 school year, including:
- Additional assistant principals at Montgomery Junior High and Montgomery and Creekside elementary schools
- 4 special education teachers and 8 special education paraprofessionals
- A K-12 science coordinator
- A speech language pathologist
Cost to the district
MISD’s preliminary total tax rate for FY 2026-27 is $1.0738 per $100 valuation, Marino said. The current FY 2025-26 total tax rate is $1.0912 per $100 valuation.
The tax rate could change before trustees consider it for approval Aug. 18, depending on the certified appraised values received from the Montgomery County Assessor, according to Davidson’s presentation.
Looking back
In June 2025, MISD’s board of trustees approved a balanced general fund budget for FY 2025-26, as previously reported by Community Impact. The passing of the $5.5 million voter-approval tax rate election in November 2024 helped prevent the district from seeing a deficit, Superintendent Mark Ruffin said in March 2025.
At the beginning of the 2024-25 fiscal year, MISD faced a shortfall of about $4.3 million, according to prior reporting.