Hays CISD employees will see various changes to the employee compensation plan for the 2026-27 academic year.

The HCISD board of trustees approved the 2026-27 compensation plan at an April 27 meeting.

The overview: Many of the changes to the plan reflect the $12 million budget cuts announced in March.

Changes include:

• Positions identified in the cuts being removed
• Work calendar changes for some staff
• Reclassification of some positions
• Suspension of some stipends

Sephora, a popular beauty retailer, opened its doors just before the Mother’s Day weekend at the San Marcos Premium Outlets.

The full story: The store offers local customers a selection of makeup, skincare and haircare products, as well as fragrances.

Brands carried at the store include:

• Fenty Beauty by Rihanna

• Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez

• Drunk Elephant

• Tatcha

• Sephora Collection

The details: Sephora is located next to the New Balance Factory Store near the Coach location in the outlet mall.

• San Marcos Premium Outlets, 3939 I-35 S., Ste. 680, San Marcos

From a new Target in Austin to elementary school construction in Leander ISD, here are five of the most expensive projects filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation in the Austin metro this week.

1. Leander ISD Elementary School No. 32 ($65 million): The new elementary school will be 117,000 square feet. According to the district, the school is projected to open in 2028 and follow the same design used for recent elementary schools.

2. Paramount Theatre Restoration ($21.7 million): This project includes a partial renovation of the existing theater, and will be completed in the summer of 2027. 

3. Target ($19.3 million): A Target will anchor The Village at Dripping Springs shopping center. 

4. Lake Travis Fire Rescue ($8 million): This project involves the demolition of the existing fire station and construction of a new one.

5. Conner Tract Parking Addition ($2 million): This project involves an overflow parking addition for Liberty Hill ISD north of the existing Liberty Hill High School campus.

Roughly 76,000 fewer students were enrolled in Texas public schools this academic year than the year prior, according to May 11 report.

The overview: The 2025-26 school year marks the second recorded enrollment drop in recent history, according to Texas Education Agency data collected since the 1987-88 academic year. The first decline happened in the 2020-21 school year, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hispanic students accounted for 81% of the enrollment loss in the 2025-26 school year, the policy research group Texas 2036 found.

The local impact: School districts across Community Impact’s coverage areas are in the process of closing and consolidating campuses, citing enrollment declines and budget shortfalls. Statewide data shows that 130 campuses have been selected for closure in the past two years.

What they're saying: “This year, we are down students, and these [drops] are somewhat more accelerated than statewide demographic trends indicated,” TEA Commissioner Mike Morath told lawmakers May 11. “We cannot tell you the precise cause of this. We just know that it has occurred.”