School Days

Protesting HISD bus drivers show little remorse over leaving school kids stranded in the cold

Dozens of Houston ISD students were left waiting in Thursday's freezing temps for bus drivers who didn't show up for work in a protest with district officials over pay grievances in a strange turn of events as HISD officials had scheduled, then postponed, a hearing to address those complaints that very day.

About 150 drivers skipped worked, leaving 40 bus routes out of nearly 1,000 completely unstaffed. Substitute drivers and double-duty schedules for others safely delivered students to their respective schools about 15 minutes late, district officials report.

"If it was my kid, I wouldn't want them out there in the cold. But at the end of the day I've got to do what's gonna help me too."

Hundreds of HISD bus drivers have filed a grievance report with the district, seeking compensation when they were not paid as the district closed for two days in the 2013-14 school year due to inclement weather. HISD officials had scheduled a 9:30 a.m. grievance hearing for the drivers on Thursday, "so that the drivers would have time to complete their morning routes," a district statement released that day states.

"Late Wednesday night, more than 100 drivers notified the district that they did not intend to report for duty on Thursday morning because of the hearing," the statement continues. "District officials then decided Wednesday night to postpone Thursday's hearing to avoid disruptions to students' pickup schedules. The district then made late-night phone calls to drivers who had said they would not report for duty to notify them that the grievance hearing was being rescheduled."

Thus, Thursday morning, the coldest day of the year in Houston so far, the cold-weather crisis happened.

The statement concludes, "HISD respects the rights of all employees and has created a grievance process that is intended to ensure that the important work of educating children continues uninterrupted."

"If it was my kid, I wouldn't want them out there in the cold. But at the end of the day I've got to do what's gonna help me too," HISD bus driver Leisa Glenn tells KHOU Ch. 11. "I have to live. All the bus drivers have to live."

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holiday budgeting news

Here's how much Houstonians are budgeting for holiday gifts in 2025

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

San Antonio residents are expected to spend over $900 on their Christmas gifts this year, WalletHub found.

Residents living in Houston's well-to-do suburbs aren't stressing about stretching their holiday spending this year: A new report from WalletHub found Pearland, The Woodlands, and Sugar Land residents are all among the top-25 biggest holiday spenders in the nation for 2025.

Pearland gift givers are expected to spend $3,277 on their festive presents, says WalletHub's 2025 "Holiday Budgets by City" report.

Pearland's holiday budget earned it No. 19 in WalletHub's national ranking of cities with largest holiday budgets, with The Woodlands and Sugar Land appearing right behind as No. 20 and No. 22, respectively.

To determine the U.S. cities with the biggest holiday budgets, WalletHub's experts compared 558 cities across five categories: Income, age, a debt-to-income ratio, residents' monthly income-to-monthly expenses ratio, and their savings-to-monthly expenses ratio.

The three U.S. cities that boast the loftiest holiday budgets are Palo Alto, California (No. 1); Mountain View, California (No. 2); and Newton, Massachusetts (No. 3). Palo Alto residents are expected to spend nearly $4,500 on their Christmas gifts this year, with the latter cities budgeting for $4,266 and $4,069.

Pearland's current holiday budget is $711 higher than it was in 2024, when the city ranked No. 31 in WalletHub's list of U.S. cities with the biggest holiday spenders. It's also much higher than the $2,127 projected budget from the 2023 report, when Pearland ranked No. 36 nationally. They're definitely competing with Mr. Claus for the "best Christmas present" award.

Festive neighbor The Woodlands ranked as the city with the 10th-highest holiday budgets last year, so its current rank as No. 20 is a bit surprising. Even with a dip in the rankings, The Woodlands residents are still expected to spend a lofty $3,265 on their holiday presents this year, or about $51 less than last year.

Residents living in No. 22-ranking Sugar Land are projected to spend $3,191 on their holiday gifts this year, or $19 less than last year, the report found.

Houston proper ranked 285th on the list with a $1,302 projected holiday budget this year, or $6 more than last year's budget.

Five more Houston-area cities landed in this year's report on the heftiest holiday budgets:

No. 34 – League City ($2,997)
No. 291 – Pasadena ($1,294)
No. 321 – Missouri City ($1,233)
No. 412 – Conroe ($1,063)
No. 490 – Baytown ($890)

Regardless of the dollar amount, Houstonians should pay attention to their spending and pick a budget that works for their financial situation, experts say. The National Retail Federation expects holiday sales to surpass $1 trillion this year, and the report warns credit card debt is a major challenge faced by many Americans as they plan their holiday shopping sprees.

"The holidays bring plenty of joy, but they can also spark seasonal stress, much of it tied to overspending," the report's author wrote. "In Q3 2025, the average household carried $10,227 in credit card debt, up 2.3 percent from the year before, according to WalletHub data. Adding holiday shopping on top of that can quickly increase the financial strain, especially if balances roll into the new year."

Other Texas cities that ranked among the top 100 biggest holiday spenders include:

No. 4 – Flower Mound ($3,941)
No. 12 – Frisco ($3,491)
No. 28 – Allen ($3,055)
No. 31 – Cedar Park ($3,028)
No. 40 – Plano ($2,812)
No. 47 – Round Rock ($2,641)
No. 55 – McKinney ($2,502)
No. 56 – Carrollton ($2,498)
No. 82 – Richardson ($2,146)
No. 96 – North Richland Hills ($1,985)

According to the study's methodology, a consumer is considered to be in a "comfortable financial position to engage in holiday spending if they have: 1) enough emergency savings to cover at least six months of expenses and 2) a debt-to-income ratio smaller than 22 percent for a renter or 43 percent for a homeowner."

holiday budgets holidays christmas wallethub houston pearland the woodlands sugar land suburbs