HUTTO – For the upcoming 2025-26 school year, Hutto Independent School District employees will now be paid twice a month.
Chief Financial Officer Caleb Steed presented a financial-adjustment report and updates on the district’s enrollment trends to trustees during a July 24 school board meeting.
While school districts determine how their employees are compensated, it’s been an accepted practice for schools to pay personnel monthly.
This was the case at Hutto schools, but the district is converting to bimonthly payroll for teachers and staff. To aid in this, Hutto ISD is also shifting software.
“We are migrating from Skyward to Frontline on the Enterprise Resource Planning side, specifically for payroll,” Steed said.
Employees who have July contracts have already been switched over into the new software and pay schedule.
The largest group — teachers — whose contracts begin in September, has not yet been completed, but they will be by the start of school.
Meanwhile, on April 1, Hutto ISD opened online enrollment for new and returning students and then paused enrollment July 1. During those three months, new student enrollment numbers reached more than 1,000 pupils.
The district during the 2024-25 academic year logged more than 10,000 total students.
Steed said it was too early to predict a student enrollment increase, but he acknowledged there will be growth.
“About 500 (of that new number) were for prekindergarten and kindergarten students for the upcoming year,” Steed said.
Steed also shared data on new housing coming into the Hutto area.
Although Central Texas enjoyed rapid growth the last few years, “Austin schools are stagnating in enrollment but not Hutto ISD,” Steed said.
Returning students during enrollment verified information already in the district’s system. Hutto ISD set a goal to have 96% of data involving current pupils completed before the beginning of school.
On July 1, the district reached 86% of that goal, “which is just great,” Steed said.
At next month’s meeting, Steed will present the district’s budget amendment to trustees and in September, they will adopt a tax rate.
School board meetings are held in the Administration Building Board Room at 200 College St. on the fourth Thursday of every month.
The open meeting begins about 7 p.m. after the board’s closed session, which starts an hour earlier.
