Prime Highlights
- Cy-Fair ISD restores full-student bus routes and late transport under its recently approved $1.2 billion budget.
- The district also includes large teacher salary hikes and a 4% salary bump for non-teacher staff.
Key Facts
- More than $45 million of the district’s coffers will be used to fund the budget.
- Salaries for new teachers currently reach $65,000, with increases of $5,000 for veteran teachers.
Key Background
Cy-Fair ISD has passed a total $1.2 billion 2025–26 school year budget, reinstating complete transportation service, trimmed in earlier years. After-school activity members and residents of far-out neighborhoods are particularly reliant on late bus routes. The action follows intense community pressure and legitimate student safety concerns of walking or riding bikes on busy roads.
The salary for employee wages is also included in the budget. Teachers with 3–4 years of service will be bumped up by $2,500 and those five or more years by $5,000. Base pay for teachers has been raised to $65,000 and district police officers will begin at $63,000. All non-teaching personnel will receive a 4% bump. These are meant to increase staff morale and retention throughout the district.
But not all staff groups were handled equally. Paraprofessionals, vital classroom assistants, were deeply disturbed by chronic low pay, earning as little as $30,000 per year. Staff testimony of housing instability and basic living expenses prompted tearful pleas to the board meeting. Trustee Natalie Blasingame abstained, calling out for the absence of action on paraprofessional salaries and demanding quality treatment.
The district will use $45 million from its reserve accounts to cover the shortfall. It is the second year in a row that Cy-Fair ISD has drawn on its fund balance, something that can put pressure on the finances of future years. While an extra $62 million in state money provides some short-term relief, authorities caution that long-term funding of existing expenses could depend on more state aid or even a local tax rate increase in future years. The budget, which offers temporary relief, highlights continued funding difficulties for one of the largest of Texas’ school districts.
