Good morning. This information will be shared in the Homefront and is a "longer than usual post," but I wanted to share it separately so everyone is sure to receive it. Last night's board agenda had two items on it related to school calendars - both this year's calendar and next year's calendar. Please see the information below regarding this year's calendar and the minutes that will need to be made up due to lost instructional time, as well as next year's calendar. I am extremely grateful to the NHISD Board of Trustees for working through these difficult agenda items and making the best decisions possible for our students, staff, and families while adhering to the guidelines set by the state. 

2025-2026 CALENDAR:

The STATE requirement for student instructional minutes is 75,600 minutes per academic school year. With the closure of school due to icy/snowy weather on January 26 & 27 (plus the early release on 1/23 and late start on 1/28), our calendar provides 74,655 minutes - meaning we are 945 minutes short. This equates to 2 days, at 455 minutes each, plus 35 minutes. We are already counting 30 minutes on Fridays for the remainder of the year to get to the 74,655 total minutes.

Beginning with the 5th 6 weeks which starts on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, the following will apply:

• First bell will ring at 7:47 AM; class starts at 7:52 AM
• School ends at 3:30 PM, Monday - Friday (no more 3 PM dismissal on Fridays)
• Last day of school is May 22, 2026 - will be a full day

2026-2027 CALENDAR:

The Calendar Committee reviewed calendar considerations and worked hard to create three draft calendars for presentation to New Home ISD stakeholders. The draft calendars were shared with stakeholders on January 29, 2026 who were given an opportunity to review the three options, along with a comparison chart, and then cast a vote for their preferred calendar. It was extremely close, but calendar C edged out calendar A by a vote of 35% to 34.1%.

Unfortunately, after all our hard work and stakeholder voting, we are having to go back to the drawing board due to accruals. An accrual is an accounting entry for revenues earned or expenses incurred but not yet paid or received in cash, ensuring financial statements reflect economic activity in the correct period, unlike cash accounting; examples include salaries earned but not paid (accrued expense) or services provided but not yet billed (accrued revenue), matching costs to the period they occurred for better financial accuracy.

2025-2026 CALENDAR:

• NHISD “expensed” 12 days in order for teachers to start on or around August 13 of the 2026-2027 school year

• This amount equals (and was budgeted) $275,404.84

  • Daily expensed cost: $275,404.84 / 12 days = $22,950.40 per day

2026-2027 DRAFT CALENDARS:

• NHISD would have needed to “expense” 21 days in order for teachers to start on August 3, 2026 (an additional 9 days)

• If considering step raises and a 3% at-will raise (requires board approval) the daily expensed amount would be $22,950.40 * 1.03 = $23,638.91 or $496,417.15

The difference between what was expensed/budgeted vs what we would owe is $221,012.31.

With our fiscal year starting 9/1/2026 and ending 8/31/2027 we would absorb this cost out of the 2025-2026 budget and we do not have the surplus in our budget to do that.

The calendar committee will reconvene and put together two new drafts for consideration. Once created, the drafts will be shared with stakeholders for voting and then presented to the Board of Trustees at the March meeting.

Please complete the Google form linked here indicating your top priorities for next year's calendar with both local and state considerations in mind. This survey will require you to record your email address and will close on 2/16/2026.

If you have any questions please feel free to reach out.

Thank you,
Julia