New Braunfels ISD is one of the few districts in the state of Texas to adopt a balanced budget for fiscal year 2026-27.

The NBISD board of trustees approved a balanced budget of $114.68 million for the 2026-27 school year, which includes a 2% pay raise for all district employees, during a June 15 meeting.

NBISD Superintendent Laurelyn Arterbury said the district was grateful to the board for choosing to invest in district staff.

“Their decision reinforces the value placed on the important role our educators and team members play in student success,” Arterbury said in a district news release.

More details: The budget includes funding for 25 new special education positions, funding for Long Creek High School ROTC instructors. The budget also includes a reduction in the number of days required for long-term substitute pay from 20 days to 15 days, according to the release.

Intersection improvements are underway at the Hwy. 46 and Oak Run Parkway intersection in New Braunfels for the Oak Run Intersection Improvements Project.

The project is designed to improve traffic flow and overall safety, according to previous reporting by Community Impact.

The impact: Southbound of Oak Run Parkway will be restricted to one lane, from the Oak Run neighborhood to Hunters Creek, for about four months, or until October. The outside westbound lane on Hwy. 46 and the eastbound right-turn lane will be closed for about three months, or until September, according to a traffic alert from the city.

Veramendi contractors began roadwork June 15, which will consist of updating roadway striping and widening sidewalks. The intersection will also be realigned along with upgrades to drainage, which aim to increase the efficiency of the intersection and help accommodate current and future traffic demands, as previously reported by Community Impact.

One more thing: Closure schedules are subject to change due to weather conditions or other factors, according to the traffic alert.

The San Marcos City Council passed a final vote approving a multitude of amendments to the city’s Land Development Code and Design Manual at a June 16 meeting, one of which places an absolute restriction on data centers.

The background: City staff approved an update to the Land Use Matrix adding data centers to the system as an individual line item and restricting the development type to High Industrial-zoned areas April 21, according to previous Community Impact reporting.

What happened: A motion to prohibit data centers in all city zoning distinctions was made by Place 6 council member Amanda Rodriguez on April 21 but failed to pass, with three votes in favor and four dissenting.

Place 5 council member Lorenzo Gonzalez, who voted against Rodriguez’s April amendment, made a motion to reconsider the proposed update to fully prohibit data center development at the June 16 meeting.

The amendment passed with four votes in favor and three dissenting.

About two weeks shy of the anniversary of deadly flooding that devastated parts of Central Texas last summer, state lawmakers approved a 115-page report chronicling what they deemed “failures” at Camp Mystic, a Christian youth camp where 27 young girls died.

The details: The family running Camp Mystic was not prepared to respond to a disaster in flood-prone Kerr County and did not act quickly enough to save campers’ lives, investigators said during a June 18 hearing at the Capitol.

Investigators Casey Garrett and Michael Massengale told lawmakers about recent interviews with teenage counselors who witnessed the July 4 tragedy, reiterating a key point from hearings earlier this year: all deaths at Camp Mystic could have been prevented if camp leaders had planned ahead and acted more quickly.

"Nobody had any idea what they needed to be doing, and it crippled them," Garrett said.

Looking ahead: Lawmakers adopted the investigative team’s report, which will be shared with legislative leaders as they draft additional policy changes in response to the flood during the 2027 state legislative session.