At a Nov. 17 meeting, the LHISD board of trustees approved a 1% pay raise at midpoint for all staff members as well as retention stipends ranging from $500-$1,500. The additional compensation increases come after voters narrowly approved a $0.07 increase to the district’s tax rate in a Nov. 4 election.
“We definitely are fortunate that Proposition A has passed and that we're able to now reinvest some funds back into our students and our staff,” LHISD interim Superintendent Travis Motal said in an interview with Community Impact. “The future for Liberty ISD is looking brighter now than it was before.”
The big picture
In the Nov. 4 election, 52.18% of voters cast ballots in favor of Proposition A, which would adopt a higher tax rate of $1.2389 per $100 valuation. The new tax rate is expected to generate $10.7 million in additional revenue for the district, $2.2 million of which will go toward further pay raises to recruit and retain teachers and staff, district officials said.
Teachers and staff members will receive a 1% raise at midpoint alongside stipends based on years of experience as follows:
- $500 for less than one year of service
- $1,000 for one to five years of service
- $1,500 for more than five years of service
What else?
About $1.3 million of new revenue under Proposition A will help cover current safety and security expenses, including staffing at least one armed police officer at every campus.
The district is expecting to put $7.2 million toward restoring student programs and positions that were previously cut. In the coming months, district officials will survey principals and staff to determine where more positions are needed in the 2026-27 school year and consider making changes related to planning periods and class sizes, Motal said.
How we got here
The district has made $8 million in budget cuts over the last two fiscal years and realized a $2 million budget deficit in FY 2024-25. This fiscal year, the district eliminated 78 positions, reduced planning periods and increased class sizes to lower a mounting budget shortfall and dwindling fund balance.
The district adopted a hybrid calendar for the 2025-26 school year featuring many four-day school weeks for students to provide teachers with greater planning time on Fridays.
“There is no amount of time in a calendar that we could give that would make up for all of that,” Motal said about the budget cuts. "Does [the calendar] completely eliminate the stress that we've had from the cuts that we had? No. It was definitely critical to try to secure some additional funding to... restore some of the things that we had before.”
In case you missed it
In the 2025 legislative session, state lawmakers passed House Bill 2 to provide $2,500 pay raises for teachers with three to four years of experience and $5,000 pay raises for teachers with five or more years of experience in districts with more than 5,000 students.
Additionally, the board approved 2% raises for certified classroom teachers with zero to two years of experience and other certified staff in July.
What they’re saying
At the Nov. 17 board meeting, Liberty Hill residents TJ Garza and Greg Wempe said they have witnessed division between community members over the passage of Proposition A. Garza said he and Wempe are planning to host a forum with district leaders where community members can receive information and discuss the tax rate increase.
“I feel like a community is so divided because of a proposition,” Garza said. “It's become political where two sides are trying to be right, and the reality is I think they both have a lot to say.”
Garza, whose children graduated from the district, said he voted to pass Proposition A so the district could reinstate programs, pay teachers more and adequately staff schools with police officers.
"Some of the most thriving communities, whether we like it or not, that pay higher taxes have a tendency to have better school districts," Garza said. "If you want to be a thriving community, you've got to build schools, which means somebody has to pay for them."
About 47.82% of voters cast their ballots against Proposition A in the Nov. 4 election.
Liberty Hill resident David Quiroz, whose children do not attend LHISD, said he is frustrated that his property tax bill will be going up despite him voting against Proposition A. Based on a median home value of $516,513, homeowners could expect to pay around $4,665 in school property taxes in fiscal year 2025-26—an estimated $341 increase from the previous fiscal year, according to district information.
“Essentially, 50% of the people who voted are being forced to do something against their will,” Quiroz said.
In 2024, the district held its first tax-rate election in which voters narrowly failed to pass a nearly $0.06 tax rate increase. Motal told Community Impact he believes some residents may have voted differently this year due to feeling the impact of budget cuts and receiving more information from the district.
"It's never ideal to go out and ask for a tax rate increase,” Motal said. “But seeing the impact that it had on our teachers this year and the struggles and the stress that they have... [we need] that additional funding to be able to continue at a high level and at the same level that our community expects.”
Something to note
On Oct. 22, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sent a letter to LHISD stating that the district's conduct potentially violated state laws prohibiting school districts from electioneering. The letter flagged a statement posted to the district's website that read “Prop A is about restoring what was lost—programs, resources, and staffing—so that we can deliver the level of education that meets Liberty Hill ISD’s vision of building champions in academics, character, and community.”
In a news release posted Nov. 7, LHISD officials said they “had an affirmative duty to educate voters about the purpose of the Proposition A election” and did not believe the statement qualified as advocacy or electioneering under state law. LHISD agreed to remove the news release from its website and did not receive a response from the attorney general, according to district information.
