The M&O rate dropped steadily after the 2019 school-finance reform compressed rates statewide. In 2025, HISD pushed it back up — a penny on every $100. Normally that would have triggered a §26.08 voter-approval election. Hurricane Beryl gave them a one-year carve-out under §26.042(d). House Bill 30 closed the carve-out, effective 2026.
School districts can adopt a tax rate above the voter-approval threshold without an election in the year after a Governor-requested federal disaster declaration.
Triggered by Ike (2008), broadened post-Harvey (2017). Used quietly by various districts over the years.
HISD adopts M&O rate of $0.7116 — up from $0.7016 the prior year — citing the Beryl disaster declaration. No §26.08 election held. Total HISD rate: $0.8783.
Estimated ~$30/yr added to a $400k home with the $100k school homestead exemption applied.
The 89th Texas Legislature passes HB 30, repealing §26.042(d) — the school-district disaster carve-out. Districts must now hold a §26.08 election to exceed the voter-approval rate, disaster or not.
The non-school §26.042(b)/(c) "8% multiplier" disaster path for cities and counties was not repealed.
For seventeen years a quiet provision sat on the books that let school districts skip the one direct vote residents got over rising school taxes — in years after a hurricane. In 2025, one of the largest districts in the country used it. The next year, the legislature pulled it. The rule wasn't broken. The system worked. It just took a state-wide hurricane and one of the most-watched school districts in Texas using it for the political coalition to form.