SEGUIN, Texas – Seguin ISD passed a budget this year with a $4 million deficit, and school board leaders are looking to voters for help in increasing the amount of money they receive from the state.
On Tuesday, Nov. 5, voters will be asked to approve a tax rate change, known as a VATRE, an election required by the state to modify the tax rate.
Voting approval would provide Seguin ISD with about $2.3 million of new funding for the district’s maintenance and operations.
Liz Oaks, chief financial officer for Seguin ISD, said the passage will not increase taxpayers’ costs.
“No taxpayer will see an increase in their tax bill from this change in the tax rate. Their bill — their property bill may go up, but it’s not because of the tax rate,” Oaks said. If their values go up, if they did an addition to their home, if they bought another home, then their value is going to go up. And the school district has nothing to do with that, nor does the school district benefit from that.”
Oaks said school finances can be complicated, so the district has done its best to explain the proposition on its webpage. But there’s also a sense of trust that the district has to have that they’re doing the right thing for the students.
“This is a change in the tax rate from the prior year. It is a lower tax rate this year than it was last year. And that’s super confusing because people are like, ‘How are you getting more money, but my tax rate isn’t going up?’” Oaks said. “But it is more money because the values increase every year, so a lower tax rate is going to generate more money because the values have changed.”
SAISD, among other districts in the area, has passed a VATRE, and NISD is exploring the possibility of a VATRE in the future.