The Katy ISD Board of Trustees met September 22 and approved the district’s maintenance and operations (M&O) and debt service (interest and sinking or I&S) tax rates, maintaining the district’s current overall tax rate of $1.12 per $100 of property valuation. Trustees kept Katy ISD’s total tax rate fixed for the second consecutive year.

“Our goal is to ensure that every dollar spent continues to support student success while maintaining the financial health of our district,” said Katy ISD Board President Lance Redmon.

This fall, the district successfully opened Boudny and Cross Elementary schools in the fast-growing northwest quadrant of the district, expanding to 80 campuses while holding the tax rate steady. Budgeted student enrollment increased by more than 500 children (0.5 percent) compared to the 2024-25 school year.

Approved Tax Rates: 2025-26

Maintenance & Operations/General

Operating (M&O) $0.7271

Interest & Sinking/Debt Service $0.3900

Total Tax Rate $1.1171


Katy ISD Chief Financial Officer Christopher J. Smith explained that the state’s funding towards tax compression and property tax relief is designed to ease the burden of rising appraisal values set by counties. In addition, the expected increase in the state’s homestead exemption should further decrease tax bills this school year. The increase in the homestead exemption from $100,000 to $140,000, ($200,000 for seniors and disabled homeowners) as approved by the state legislature, will be on the November 2025 ballot.

The board-approved tax rates will take effect immediately and will appear on tax statements later this fall, a district spokesperson said in a post-meeting press release.

About 15 people spoke during public comments, with ten speaking on agenda items, primarily on the posting of the Ten Commandments in district classrooms. Speakers appeared to be about evenly divided on the issue, with about half in support of the new state law, and half

urging caution until the issue is decided by the courts. Former school board president Victor Perez spoke in support of the policy, and also spoke on non agenda items, specifically praising trustees Mary Ellen Cuzela, Amy Thieme and Morgan Calhoun.

Former school board member George Scott spoke on non agenda items, chastising district officials for refusing to meet with him and to share student achievement data which he has requested. Scott charged the Texas Education Agency with “race-based standards” in the development of testing models such as the STAAR test and called on minority leaders in the Katy community to change the ethnic and political make-up of the district’s school board in order to help close the achievement gap for disadvantaged minority students in the district. He also called on regional media outlets and civil rights leaders to “put your microscope on Katy ISD” where “the TEA’s impact on at-risk disadvantaged minority children is profound.”

The board also discussed the process for acceptance of donated and unsolicited Ten Commandments posters pursuant to SB 10. Justin Graham, general counsel for the district, presented a motion to allow the superintendent to accept the posters, including the specification that the posters be donated at the district’s Education Support Complex at 6301 S. Stadium Lane in Katy, and then they would “be ready ASAP.” This would allow the district to pre-emptively accept all poster donations, and donors would continue to be recognized in the board’s donation reports. In response to a question from trustee Dawn Champagne, Graham said that the posters would be checked for compliance with size requirements and other criteria and would be rolled out “from one end to the other.” Graham said that he anticipated a ruling on the constitutionality of the law before the end of the year, and that the district was “in a difficult position,” facing either a lawsuit from the ACLU if the posters or hung, or regulatory action from the state if they are not.

The next meeting of the board of trustees will be a work-study meeting on October 20 and the regular board meeting on October 27.