Katy ISD board previews flat tax rate, hears no votes taken at work study session

KATY, Texas — The Katy Independent School District Board of Trustees met Sept. 14 for a work study session in which trustees reviewed a recommended 2026-27 tax rate that would keep the combined rate unchanged from last year, but the board took no formal votes, deferring all action to its regular meeting scheduled for Sept. 21.

Chief Financial Officer Chris Smith presented a proposed total tax rate of $1.1171 per $100 of valuation — the same rate as the prior year — made up of a 72.71-cent maintenance and operations rate and a 39-cent interest and sinking (debt service) rate. Smith told the board the M&O rate includes the state-compressed rate of 61.69 cents plus 11 “pennies” of local enrichment (eight golden pennies and three copper pennies).

Despite the rate holding flat, Smith said the district’s order carries the state-mandated disclosure that “this tax rate will raise more taxes for maintenance and operations than last year’s rate,” a statement he said reflects roughly 1.5% growth in local property appraisals rather than any local rate increase. Smith and trustees noted that additional revenue generated by rising appraisals is largely offset by reduced state funding, since Texas school finance law reduces state aid as local property tax collections rise.

Trustee Lance Redmond and board members Kelly Fox and others pressed Smith on the mechanics, with Fox saying the state’s required “will raise more taxes” language is misleading because Katy ISD does not receive the extra money generated by higher appraisals. “For every dollar extra that’s raised, the state keeps that dollar,” Fox said, adding the language creates confusion for voters during bond elections. Smith confirmed that characterization was accurate. No vote was taken on the tax rate Sept. 14; adoption is slated for the board’s Sept. 21 regular meeting, according to the presentation.

In other financial business, Assistant Superintendent of Finance Jamie Hines presented the district’s July 2026 financial reports, the final monthly reports for the 2025-26 fiscal year. Hines said the district had spent 91.6% of its budgeted fiscal year with significant underspending remaining and no district functions over budget. He said the board will not receive monthly financial reports in October, with the district’s audited Annual Comprehensive Financial Report expected to come back to the board for approval in January.

The board also discussed, without voting, an amendment to the district’s contract with The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company for renovations to the Support Services Complex. Executive Director of Facilities Planning and Construction Lisa Kassman said the amendment would fund long-lead mechanical and electrical equipment and allow early demolition work to begin, with the goal of completing the project by August 2027. Kassman said the contractor was approved in April 2025 and the district is now in the design phase.

Chief Human Resources Officer Brian Schuss told the board the district was not yet ready to present its annual class-size waiver request for elementary campuses exceeding the state’s mandated 22-to-1 student-teacher ratio in kindergarten through fourth grade. Schuss said the district’s enrollment-balancing process, which typically wraps up shortly after Labor Day, was delayed this year because the holiday fell unusually late, leaving insufficient time before the meeting. He said specific waiver numbers by campus would be provided to the board by the end of the week and presented for consideration at the Sept. 21 meeting. Schuss and trustee Fox both characterized the anticipated number of affected classrooms as minimal, citing prior years in which roughly 50 of the district’s approximately 1,700 elementary classroom sections required waivers, most by only one student over the limit.

Trustees also reviewed, without objection, the district’s proposed 2026-27 claims administration agreement with the TASB Risk Management Fund for unemployment compensation, with Director of Risk Management Lance Nauman saying the district’s fixed contribution would hold steady at $296,073, unchanged from the prior plan year. Nauman attributed the flat cost to increased stability in unemployment claims statewide.

Earlier in the meeting, presenters reviewed the district’s proposed 2026-27 District and Campus Performance Objectives, which guide improvement planning at the district and campus levels. Executive Director of School Improvement Natalie Martinez told the board 28 proposed district performance objectives were developed through a combination of legally required statutes, strategic-plan action steps and a community needs-assessment process. Board members offered extended praise for the objectives and the underlying campus improvement plans, which Board President Lance Redmond described as a 179-page document detailing goals across the district’s roughly 80 campuses. No formal board vote was recorded on either the district or campus performance objectives during the work study session.

During the public comment period, the board’s lone registered speaker, Omar Pena, a Cross Creek Ranch resident and Katy ISD parent who also identified himself as a Fulshear city councilman, urged trustees to be aware of local opposition to a proposed cell tower near a district high school, saying revenue from such towers could factor into the district’s tax rate deliberations. He noted a public hearing and potential vote on the matter was scheduled for the following day and invited a district representative to attend.

The board convened in closed session both before and after its public discussion items, citing sections 551.071, 551.076 and 551.129 of the Texas Government Code, but Board President Redmond said no action would be taken as a result of the closed session that evening. An agenda item to reconvene from closed session to consider a Level Three grievance (FNG 25-091) was not addressed on the record; the board adjourned at 7:41 p.m. without taking it up, as the involved party reportedly did not attend.

Also at this meeting:

• The board received, without discussion, a consent-agenda list of items donated to the district.
• Consent items also included a blanket electrical easement to CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric associated with the renovation of Rodger and Ellen Beck Junior High School, a plat for Sundown Elementary School, and acquisition of new library books; none were pulled for separate discussion.
• Board members reported no outstanding requests for information during the recap portion of the meeting.
• The district’s next regular board meeting is scheduled for Sept. 21, 2026, when the tax rate and class-size waiver items are expected to come up for formal votes.