Key facts
- Debt-fund cash, June 30, 2026 (unaudited): $146.3 million1
- Not the general fund: the day-to-day budget’s savings were also about $146 million in June 2026,2 but that is separate money. Debt-fund cash can only repay loans; it cannot cover the budget gap. See reserves and deficit.
- Set aside for the August 2026 loan payment: $99.8 million1
- Left over after that payment (our math): about $46.5 million3
- Cash already used to pay loans early, 2020-21 to 2024-25: about $133 million.4
In short
The debt fund collects the debt tax and can only pay loans. It looked full in June 2026, about 146 million dollars.1 But about 100 million of that pays the August loan bill.1 About 46 million dollars is not tied to that bill. We have not confirmed it is truly spare.3
Why it matters to your tax bill: if spare cash exists, it could lower a future debt-tax rate or shrink future borrowing.
Related: early payoffs · debt · reserves and deficit · bond cash waiting
Layer 1: The idea
The debt fund collects the debt tax. It can only be spent on loans. Its balance looks biggest on June 30. That’s because the big loan payment is due in August. It’s like your checking account the day before rent is due: it looks full, but most of it is spoken for.
Layer 2: Why this matters
If some of that cash really is spare, it could pay down debt or shrink a future tax increase. We first thought the spare cash was large. Our own check found most of it pays the August bill, so we cut that idea by about two-thirds.
A label to check
The same document also prints $143.4 million as the debt fund’s June 30 cash. Elsewhere it gives $143.4 million as the estimate for the general fund (day-to-day budget). The two do not match. The debt fund’s own note says $146.3 million.5
Questions to ask
- When will the district post the audited debt-fund balance for the latest year?
- How does the board decide how much spare debt-fund cash to keep?
Changes to this page
- Nov. 2, 2026: Reworded two hedged lines about the debt fund’s cash.
- Nov. 2, 2026: We took internal document numbers out of the source notes.
- Nov. 2, 2026: We made the source link names plainer.
- Nov. 2, 2026: Added questions to ask.
What you can do or watch next
- Watch the debt fund balance in the next yearly audit.
What we still don’t know
- The newest audit is for the year that ended June 30, 2025. The June 2026 numbers above come from a bond sale document and are not audited. The ten-year table below is audited.
- What the 2025-26 audit could change: the June 30, 2026 debt-fund balance (now $146.3 million, unaudited)1; so the money left after the August payment (about $46.5 million)3; and whether the $143.4 million line is a label mix-up.5 It would also add a 2026 row to the table. If the audited balance is lower, the spare cash is smaller.
- What using spare cash would do to a future debt-tax rate.
Layer 3: How the fund has been used
From 2020-21 to 2024-25 the district spent about $133 million of cash paying loans early. That’s 17.4% of its debt spending. The middle of 10 similar fast-growing districts spent 2.2%; Pflugerville spent 13.5% and Round Rock 10.6%.4 See Paying loans early with cash.
For 2025-26 the budget set aside $13.59 million of debt-fund cash for early payoffs. By June 2026, only about $0.48 million had been used, and no vote changed the line.6 The Feb. 2026 refunding fell in that year; the Aug. 2026 sale (2026A) closed in the next budget year (2026-27). See Paying loans early.
Ten years of the debt fund
The audited books show the debt fund’s year-end balance:7
| Year end | Balance |
|---|---|
| 2016 | $35.3 million |
| 2017 | $28.5 million |
| 2018 | $58.8 million |
| 2019 | $33.3 million |
| 2020 | $138.8 million |
| 2021 | $131.3 million |
| 2022 | $135.3 million |
| 2023 | $140.4 million |
| 2024 | $135.7 million |
| 2025 | $130.4 million |
All years in this table are audited (through the year ended June 30, 2025).
The jump in 2020 is when the district moved its year-end from Aug. 31 to June 30. A June 30 balance comes just before the big August payment, so it looks larger. That is our reading; the audit does not say so.7 Since then the balance has stayed near $130-140 million, about 3.7 times the 2016 level.8
The district says the 2025 drop ($5.3 million) is tied to a state “settle-up” of homestead-exemption aid due in December 2025.7
The district’s side
The district keeps a balance so it can make the August payment without borrowing, and the law limits this money to debt.
Go deeper
Numbers marked “our math” are our estimates, not official figures. The notes show the inputs and the steps.
Footnotes
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Leander ISD Series 2026A bond official statement, Aug. 5, 2026, p.A-1. Unaudited. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5
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Leander ISD, Budget Updates slides, Oct. 15, 2026, slide 17: general fund about $146 million (2025-26, near final, 3.8 months). Presentation. ↩
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Texas Education Agency, PEIMS actual financial data, fiscal 2021–2025, debt service, object 659x as a share of objects 651x+652x+659x; our math. The 10 similar districts: Round Rock, Pflugerville, Hays, Frisco, Prosper, Northwest, Katy, Conroe, Lamar and Comal; their median is 2.2%. ↩ ↩2
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Series 2026A official statement, pp.A-1 and A-3. “Looks like a mix-up” is our reading; the district has not confirmed it. ↩ ↩2
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Leander ISD, proposed 2026-27 budget book, Debt Service Fund, June 18, 2026; Leander ISD, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report 2025, Exhibit C-3: “Fees/Other” (debt issuance costs and fees) $29,913,203 in 2024-25, mostly cash into payoffs ($24,285,000 for the Oct. 2024 refunding, shown as “Issuer Contribution” under Sources of Funds in the official statement for the Series 2024 Unlimited Tax Refunding Bonds, Sept. 24, 2024, $3,541,137.50 for 2025A/B). 2025-26: $13,589,775 budgeted; June 2026 projection $13,000 in that line plus $463,356 “Defeasance/Refunding-Issuer Contribution” (together about $0.48 million, our math). Every 2025-26 budget amendment (No. 1–#12 and the June 18 final) was checked; the only debt-fund change was +$800. ↩
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Leander ISD Annual Comprehensive Financial Report 2025, Table 4 (pp.114-115), restricted for debt service; MD&A p.13. The year-end-change reading is ours. ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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Our math: $130.39M ÷ $35.27M ≈ 3.7. ↩