Budget & Tax Rate

A school district budget is divided into two main funds:

• Maintenance and Operations sometimes called the M&O fund
• Interest and Sinking sometimes called the I&S or debt service fund

Money in the maintenance and operations fund can be used for daily operations (i.e. salaries, supplies, utilities, etc.). Money in the interest and sinking fund is used to repay bonded indebtedness. School districts hold school bond elections to obtain authorization from local voters to sell bonds and collect taxes for the payment of the bonded indebtedness. Monies from the bond sale are used for construction and capital improvements to facilities and to buy furniture, equipment and/or to purchase land.

The money collected on the I&S side of the ledger cannot be used for maintenance and operations costs. In other words, you cannot use I&S funds to pay teacher salaries. It isn't legal in Texas.

2025–2026 Tax Rate: HPISD adopted a tax rate of $0.8347 for 2025–2026, a decrease of 3.22 cents from the 2024–2025 tax rate of $0.8669 due to increased property values.

2026–2027 Tax Rate Update: On August 18, 2026, HPISD adopted a tax rate of $0.8128, consisting of an M&O rate of $0.6428 and an I&S rate of $0.1700. Due to increased property values, the total tax rate decreased by 2.19 cents from $0.8347 in 2025–2026.