At the Houston ISD board of managers’ June 11 meeting, a decision on the district’s fiscal year 2026-27 budget was postponed to June 25, but the preliminary tax rates were unveiled.

What’s new: HISD’s FY 2026-27 preliminary total tax rate is $0.8421 per $100 valuation, according to a June 11 presentation from Daniel Flores, HISD’s senior executive director of budgeting. The tax rate is $0.0362 lower than the current total tax rate, which is $0.8783 per $100 valuation.

Homeowners may see an increase on their tax bill if their home value increases year over year, according to HISD’s website.

Latest update: Consideration of the FY 2026-27 budget was included on the agenda for the June 11 HISD meeting, but the board of managers opted to postpone the vote until June 25.
The third iteration of the draft general fund budget features:

• About $1.99 billion in total revenue
• About $2.015 billion in total expenditures

West University Place officials received $250,000 from the Federal Highway Administration’s Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program to conduct a pedestrian safety plan.

What this means: City Council approved an agreement between the city and the FHWA and allocated the funding for a Safety Action Plan.

The Safety Action Plan will bind the city’s 2-square-mile mobility network and will include information such as crash data and risk analysis, network screening, public engagement and plan development with actionable items.

Data from recent traffic and pedestrian studies from the city will contribute to the development of this plan, according to the city. 

What they're saying: Mayor Susan Sample said in a statement that pedestrian mobility has been a high priority for City Council.

“Last year, we installed new signs and restriped crosswalks at our major intersections, enhancing pedestrian visibility,” Sample said. “This grant demonstrates this council’s dedication to safety and will build upon our ongoing pedestrian and traffic safety studies.”

The Transportation Advocacy Group of the Houston Region, or TAG Houston, held a webinar on the future of advanced air mobility June 3.

What’s happening: Sergio Roman, Texas Department of Transportation's director of emerging aviation technology under the aviation division, led a “pragmatic discussion” on the future of advanced air mobility. This includes unmanned drones and electric vertical takeoff and landing—or eVTOL—aircraft, to transport people and materials.

“We've all seen all the marketing sketches and autonomous passengers, drones zipping over gridlocked highways and completely untethered from the realities of public policy, physical concrete or power grids,” Roman said.

Explained: In March, the Federal Aviation Administration bestowed TxDOT with Project Nexus under the integration pilot program, or eIPP.

While Project Nexus encompasses Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and the Choctaw Nation, Roman said Houston will make its role vital in this undertaking as an immense industrial coastal corridor.

On the horizon: “In a perfect world,” Roman believes Phase 3 would begin in August or September of 2028.

Need to catch up on Community Impact’s coverage from this week? Check out five trending stories in the Greater Houston area from June 8-12.

1. Vegetarian restaurant Simply South to open in Katy
2. EVO Entertainment is coming to Fulshear next year
3. New and upcoming stores in The Woodlands Mall
4. Doctors on inaugural year of Houston Methodist Willowbrook’s new OB-GYN residency
5. Katy ISD will use two stadiums for future graduations

Harris County Flood Control District Executive Director Tina Petersen announced her formal resignation minutes after Harris County commissioners approved a new plan in partnership with the Harris County Flood Control District and the Texas General Land Office to complete $322 million in disaster recovery and flood mitigation projects by February 2027.

The breakdown: HCFCD Assistant Director of Operations Scott Elmer said the new plan with the GLO involved getting all 11 disaster recovery projects through the current project status by the February 2027 deadline, and then rolling over the remaining phases of the projects into the flood mitigation project deadline in March 2028.

What's next: While commissioners agreed to move forward with the project plans in partnership with the GLO, they will first need to find a replacement for Petersen after her resignation. 

According to the Office of County Administration, commissioners will consider next steps for the position at the June 25 meeting while the OCA manages the department in the interim.

The Texas Education Agency released results June 10 from this year’s State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness end-of-course exams.

The overview: High school students who took the year-end exams this spring made gains in all subjects, TEA data shows. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said students’ academic progress was due to “focused instruction and high expectations” in the classroom.

What you need to know: Individual STAAR results are shared through the state assessment portal. Each Texas student receives a unique access code for their results. Families can find the code on the first page of their child’s report card or contact their school, according to the TEA.

Texas public school students in third through 12th grade take the exam each spring, and it is used to measure student progress and teacher performance.

What's next: The TEA is scheduled to release STAAR scores for third- through eighth-grade students June 16.