Plano ISD is anticipating a $44 million deficit budget for fiscal year 2026-27, Chief Financial Officer Courtney Reeves said during a May 6 board of trustees meeting.

The big picture: District staff is expecting around $561.9 million in expenditures and $517.1 million in net revenue. PISD’s expenditures are projected to decrease by $3.99 million from last fiscal year, but revenues are expected to decrease by more than $14.5 million.

Reeves attributed that decrease largely to declining enrollment and recapture, a program that reallocates tax revenue from property-rich districts to those the state deems property-poor.

Looking ahead: Deputy Superintendent Johnny Hill said that PISD has run a deficit balance “for years.”

“We’ve had a deficit for years, but I would not call that a structural deficit,” he said. “A structural deficit means we have to change the structure of our budget accordingly.”

He added that for the first time in the last five or six years, staff is needing to consider significant changes.

PISD’s board is expected to adopt the final 2026-27 budget in June.

The Burger Life in Richardson has shut its doors.

The background: The restaurant opened in the Shops at Eastside in 2024 and served a halal menu featuring hamburgers, sandwiches and chicken.

As health care costs continue rising in Texas and across the nation, state lawmakers are working to understand the factors that make health care unaffordable and what can be done to rein in prices.

The big picture: About 5.2 million Texans, or 16.7% of the state’s population, did not have health insurance in 2024, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

For years, advocates have called on Texas lawmakers to pass laws to drive down health care costs and improve access to health insurance. During a two-day hearing April 30 and May 1, a Texas House committee examined why health care costs are rising. Lawmakers will discuss potential policy solutions later this year, committee chair Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls, said.

What's happening: Yale University professor Zack Cooper said that since 2000, U.S. health care spending has grown three times faster than inflation. The average health insurance premium for a family of four is $27,000 per year, he said.

“Every family is basically buying a new Toyota Corolla worth of health insurance," Cooper told lawmakers.