Clear Creek ISD to weigh potential $19.1M VATRE

A potential $19.1 million voter-approved tax rate election was discussed at Clear Creek ISD’s board of trustees’ July 13 workshop to mitigate the district’s budget shortfall.

The consideration is still in the air, and the impact on residents' tax bills has not yet been determined.

What you need to know

Currently, the district is looking at a nearly $23.4 million shortfall for fiscal year 2026-27, and a $28.5 million shortfall by FY 2027-28, according to district documents.

If a VATRE is called by the board in August for an election in November and eventually passed by voters, the VATRE could help take away the shortfall for FY 2027-28, officials said, along with other plans the district has to reduce expenses, including a facility optimization plan based on enrollment.

Other options to reduce the anticipated shortfalls include reducing CCISD’s payroll costs by 2% through attrition, vacancy management and a process redesign by August 2027, as well as selling or leasing underutilized land, according to district documents.

How we got here

CCISD has lost about $28 million annually as enrollment has dropped by about 8.5% since 2019.

Superintendent Karen Engle noted the district was in a fast-growth environment, but then had a sharp decline after COVID-19.

In 2022, the district also lost about $4.6 million when attendance dropped from 93% to 95%, according to district documents.

Initiatives taken for that include an expanded open-enrollment policy, expanded tuition-based pre-K, new online opportunities and offering more learning opportunities for intermediate students.

Additionally, Benzaia noted the freeze in basic allotment from the 2020-21 school year through 2024-25. The allotment, which is given by the state per student in average daily attendance, remained at $6,160 for roughly five years. The allotment did rise to $6,215 per student for the 2025-26 school year.

Another factor is a 20% increase in inflation from 2019 to 2026, Benzaia said. To match 2019 purchasing power, the basic allotment would need to be about $7,500 per student, according to a presentation from CCISD.

Lastly, special education enrollment has risen by over 38%, which resulted in an additional $16.3 million in expenses, district documents note. A shortage of school and speech pathologists has also caused the district to contract these specialists at higher rates.

Next steps

CCISD trustees will consider the staff compensation plan at their July 27 meeting.

If a VATRE is called, a public hearing for the adopted tax rate and budget must be approved by Aug. 17.

The deadline to publish notice for a public meeting if a VATRE will be called is Aug. 7.

If a VATRE isn’t called, the board will adopt the budget and tax rate at its Aug. 24 meeting.