SAN ANTONIO – Nine local school districts are holding Voter-Approval Tax Rate Elections, or a VATRE, this November, and they appear on the ballot as propositions from those districts.
Texas public schools are funded through state and local tax dollars. The local money is generated from property tax rates.
Brian Woods, the former Northside ISD superintendent, said the state sets a limit on each district’s rate.
“The state tells each school district, based on a complicated calculation, what’s so-called their maximum compressed tax rate is,” Woods said.
If a district needs to increase that rate, Woods said, “then it has to go to its voters and ask for permission in a Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election.”
Money from a district’s property tax rate is divided into two parts. What’s called the “interest and sinking” rate pays off large bond projects. The “maintenance and operations” percentage pays for dayto day expenses, such as utilities, fuel and staff.
Asked what the money from a VATRE can be used for, Woods said it “has to stay on the maintenance and operations side of the tax rate.”
“You could use those dollars to, again, put fuel in busses, to pay the electric bill, to pay your staff,” Woods said.
Every district decides how to split its money between the two sides, with day to day costs always being the largest portion.
The state requires voter approval if a district wants to increase the share going to maintenance and operations. A school board could lower that share on its own, but Woods said that is unlikely.
“It would never happen because the vast majority of districts in the state are struggling to fund their current programming at the rate where they are,” he said.
Ballots for school finance elections also carry the words “this is a tax increase.” State law began requiring that wording a few years ago, but approval does not always mean a taxpayer will pay more. If the rate for one portion goes up while the other goes down, the overall amount paid could go down or stay the same. That is the current proposal in South San ISD, for example.
Voters are encouraged to read the details of the proposals before heading to the polls.
Early voting begins Oct. 19.
