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

Le Petit Marché is now open inside Domus Caviar and Fine Foods in the Heights, founder Chloe Di Leo confirmed. The shop offers local and imported foods and ingredients curated for chefs and foodies.

What they offer: Di Leo said the shop stocks high-quality imports, like sardines and olive oil, as well as products from local vendors. Le Petit Marché is also home to a community herb garden where visitors can pick and plant their own garnishes and seasonings.

The shop is also available for private “sip and shop” events.

• 1240 W. 25th St., Houston

The MKT Bridge has officially reopened after being closed for over a year.

What happened: City officials, residents and community members celebrated the reopening of the MKT Trail Hogan Pedestrian Bridge in the Heights after being closed for over a year due to repairs.

Houston City Council members Joe Panzarella, Mario Castillo and Julian Ramirez attended the opening. Panzarella, who represents the Heights, said the ribbon-cutting was a celebration.

"This ribbon cutting was a celebration of connectivity, walkability and bikeability for all Houstonians,” Panzarella said in a statement. “We must build off this achievement by continuing to invest in active transit across Houston."

Some background: The MKT Bridge closed in February 2025 after it was determined to have severe structural damage, according to Houston Public Works.

The city partially demolished the bridge, which also required the closure of the trails below it. Construction began in February 2026 after months of delay, according to the Texas Department of Transportation, and officially reopened June 11.

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

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.

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.