LHISD Board Briefs

Liberty Hill ISD,

• Our Board of Trustees had another great meeting Monday evening at our regular June board meeting, as they continued their commitment to be good stewards of our taxpayers' dollars and work towards a balanced budget for the 2025-26 school year. The district leadership team and our School Board are actively working together to meet the needs of our students and staff.

• We began the discussion related to staff compensation for the 2025-26 school year after the recent signing of House Bill 2 into law. Staff compensation is one of the Board’s budget priorities for this next fiscal year. This new law has many great features that will strengthen learning experiences for students in Liberty Hill.

• House Bill 2 is 226 pages long and has many line items that are currently being interpreted by TEA to ensure full compliance and implementation which may take several weeks or months to fully understand. The Board of Trustees has approved the timeline below for staff compensation:

• June 16th Regular Board Meeting - Approve an all staff benefits package, teacher step pay increases, academic teacher supplemental pay rate increases, and a restructure of the campus administration pay scale. House Bill 2 partially funded the teacher increases and did not fund the benefits package or campus administration restructure.

• July 21st Regular Board Meeting - Update the School Board on funding requirements from House Bill 2 after additional interpretations from TEA.

• August 4th Special-Called Board Meeting - Recommend teacher and other staff compensation after Williamson Central Appraisal District (WCAD) certified property tax values have been finalized and further interpretation of House Bill 2 is made available from TEA. If approved, all campus teachers and instructional staff raises would take effect starting with the September paycheck.

• Please see the link below under the May action items for the board presentation related to staff compensation and benefits approval.

• The School Board and district leadership are thankful for our legislators taking these steps in the right direction for school funding, but it is not enough. LHISD worked hard to get close to a balanced budget with our cuts this past spring, but unfortunately, this bill does not relieve our funding concerns. House Bill 2 does not have additional funding to add positions back or restore any of the cuts that have been made. It will take a shared commitment from all of us to ensure every student fulfills our mission of becoming a future-ready graduate, empowered to reach the best version of themselves.

- Click on the underlined areas to visit that part of the board meeting live stream. -

Public Hearing

• Information regarding state and federal programs, CTE, State Comp Ed, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was presented by the Executive Director of Secondary Todd Washburn and LHISD Counseling Coordinator Jamie Richardson.

Public Comments

• There were no public comments at this meeting.

Communication Items - District Updates

• A district rebrand initial presentation was provided by Director of Communications & Community Engagement Rachel Acosta.
• A LHISD Leadership Framework/Holdsworth Leadership Update was provided by Executive Director of Human Resources Rebecca Owen.
• A human resources updates was provided by Executive Director of Human Resources Rebecca Owen.

• Updates from Interim Superintendent Travis Motal (click link to hear detailed update)
• The LHHS Boys Baseball Team had a medal draping on June 17.
• Legislative updates regarding a variety of Senate and House Bills that have passed this session, which impact public education in some capacity.
• Demographic report
• Included Region 13 enrollment trends
• LHISD is #3 in the Austin area for home sales
  
• STAAR Updates

Consent Agenda

• The Board approved consent agenda items to include:
  • Tax collection summary
  • Cash position and investment report
  • Finance summary report
  • Budget amendments
  • Purchases over $50,000
  • Addendum: contracted services
  • Band instruments
  • Bond status, food service, enrollment, ADA, and police report
  • Accept donations
  • Proposed Board meeting dates for 2025-26
  • Tax rate calculation officers 2025-26
  • JJAEP MOU with Williamson County
  • RFB vendors for the provision of School Health and Related Services (SHARS) billing and database

• The Board approved employee compensation which included the benefits package, salary step increase, and academic supplemental pay increase as presented by Executive Director of Human Resources Rebecca Owen and Chief Financial Officer Rosanna Guerrero.
• The Board approved appropriating an efficiency audit after having a tax rate discussion and options moving forward as presented by Chief Financial Officer Rosanna Guerrero.
• The Board approved the schematic design for Elementary #9 as presented by Executive Director of Construction, Maintenance and Facilities Dustin Akin.
• The Board approved commissioning services for Elementary #8 and Liberty Hill High School #1 as presented by Executive Director of Construction, Maintenance and Facilities Dustin Akin.
• The Board approved Third Party Observation and Materials Testing for Liberty Hill Elementary #9 as presented by Executive Director of Construction, Maintenance and Facilities Dustin Akin.
• The Board approved the General Contractor for Liberty Hill ISD Operations Service Center as presented by Executive Director of Construction, Maintenance and Facilities Dustin Akin.
• Upon returning from closed session, the Board approved:
• growth positions
• personnel employment and resignations
• the hiring of Heather Stoner as the Assistant Superintendent of Teaching & Learning

The next regular board meeting will be on Monday, July 21, 2025, at 6 p.m.

Click here to listen to the full June 16, 2025 regular board meeting.

Liberty Hill ISD. Building Champions in Academics, Character, and Community

Email: superintendent@libertyhill.txed.net
Website: libertyhill.txed.net
Location: 301 Forrest Street, Liberty Hill, TX, USA
Phone: 512-260-5580