What does Leander ISD's day-to-day money buy?

In short

• Pay and benefits were about 86% of the district’s operating spending in 2024-25. In 2014-15 they were about 83% (our math).¹²
• Operating spending grew from about $285 million to about $491 million over those 10 years. Pay and benefits grew a bit faster than the total (our math).¹²
• Services bought from outside firms fell as a share, from about 9.5% to about 7.2% (our math).¹²

Numbers marked “our math” are our estimates, not official figures. The notes show the inputs and the steps.

How it works

• Schools report every dollar they spend to the state. Each dollar gets a code for what it bought. The state calls these codes “objects.”¹
• There are four main kinds of day-to-day costs: pay and benefits for staff; services from outside firms, such as utilities, repairs and consultants; supplies, such as books, fuel and food; and other costs, such as insurance, travel and fees.¹
• This page counts day-to-day spending only. It leaves out loan payments and building projects. It is the same total used on Value for money.¹

What the numbers show

What the money bought	2014-15	2018-19	2024-25
Pay and benefits	$235.8M (83%)	$293.7M (83%)	$420.4M (86%)
Services from outside firms	$27.0M (9%)	$29.7M (8%)	$35.1M (7%)
Supplies	$17.2M (6%)	$22.8M (6%)	$26.5M (5%)
Other costs	$4.9M (2%)	$5.7M (2%)	$9.1M (2%)
Total	$284.8M	$351.9M	$491.2M

Source: Texas Education Agency, school district financial data. Totals and shares are our math.¹²

• Pay and benefits grew about 78%. The total grew about 72% (our math).²
• Other costs nearly doubled, from about $4.9 million to about $9.1 million. They are still a small part of the total (our math).²
• Spending dipped in 2019-20, then rose again.¹

The other side

• Schools are mostly people. Teachers, aides, bus drivers and nurses are the largest cost. This page does not compare Leander’s pay share with other districts.
• These are not adjusted for prices or for more students. The district grew by thousands of students in these years. See Value for money for spending per student after prices.
• Codes can hide what was bought. A contract worker shows up as a service, while a district employee doing the same work shows up as pay.
• Benefits costs are partly set by others, such as the state teacher retirement system and health insurance prices. See teacher retirement.

Changes to this page

• Nov. 2, 2026: Rewrote the questions to ask so each is open, neutral and addressed to the public body.
• Nov. 2, 2026: We checked every figure against its source. We reworded the other-side points so they stick to what the sources show.

Questions to ask

• How much of the growth in pay came from more staff, and how much from raises, by the district’s count?
• Which outside services cost the most each year?

What we still don’t know

• The split inside pay between salaries, health insurance and retirement. We did not break it out here.
• Which firms got the service money. The state data does not name them.

Footnotes

1. Texas Education Agency, PEIMS actual financial data for Leander ISD, fiscal years 2015 to 2025 (school years 2014-15 to 2024-25): operating funds 1xx–4xx, functions 11–61, objects 61xx (payroll), 62xx (contracted services), 63xx (supplies and materials), 64xx (other operating costs). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

2. Our math. 2014-15: 235,789,122 + 26,961,302 + 17,208,427 + 4,887,242 = 284,846,093. 2018-19: 293,686,633 + 29,695,527 + 22,812,804 + 5,685,798 = 351,880,762. 2024-25: 420,408,139 + 35,125,449 + 26,544,888 + 9,133,806 = 491,212,282. Pay share 82.8% and 85.6%. Services 9.5% and 7.2%. Growth: pay 1.783; total 1.724; other 1.869. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶