What Leander ISD owes on software subscriptions

In short

• The district owed about $1.0 million on software it rents for more than a year.¹
• All of it is due by June 2027.¹
• It also owed about $0.9 million on leases.²

Related: why net position is below zero

How it works

• Some deals count as debt. The district rents financial and educational software under deals it cannot cancel. The audit lists what it still has to pay as money owed. It also lists the right to use the software as something the district owns.³

What the numbers show

Year ending June 30	Software payments due
2026	$646,964
2027	$421,587
Total	$1,068,551

Source: the district’s 2025 audit (ACFR), Note 7.¹

• The amount owed is $1,029,137. The other $39,414 is interest.¹
• The district had 16 of these deals. Rates ran from about 2.2% to 3.5%.¹
• New deals in the year added $1,140,250. Payments cut the total by $497,722.²
• Leases: the district owed $912,613 at year end. Of that, $882,441 is due within a year.²

The other side

• This is a small part of what the district owes. Its long-term debts totaled about $2.1 billion. Almost all of that is bonds.²

What we still don’t know

• Which software products the deals cover. The audit lists them only as “educational” or “technology.”

Questions to ask

• Which software products do the district’s subscription deals cover?
• How does the board approve multi-year software deals?

Changes to this page

• Nov. 2, 2026: Added questions to ask.
• Nov. 2, 2026: New page.

Footnotes

1. Leander ISD, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) for the year ended June 30, 2025, Note 7, “SBITA Liabilities,” pp.48-49: 16 subscriptions (educational and technology software), interest rates 2.18% to 3.46%, liability as of June 30, 2025 $1,029,137; future payments 2026 $618,942 principal + $28,022 interest = $646,964, 2027 $410,195 + $11,392 = $421,587, total $1,029,137 + $39,414 = $1,068,551. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. Same ACFR, Note 6, long-term liability activity, p.44: SBITAs beginning $386,609, additions $1,140,250, retirements $(497,722), ending $1,029,137, due within one year $618,942; leases payable ending $912,613, due within one year $882,441; total long-term liabilities $2,105,773,489, of which total bonds payable $2,099,894,767. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. Same ACFR, Note 1.N, “Subscription-Based Information Technology Arrangements,” p.36: “The District is under contracts for SBITA for various financial and educational software. The agreements/contracts are noncancellable and the District recognizes a SBITA liability and an intangible right-to-use SBITA asset.” ↩