The CISD board of trustees voted unanimously to include the VATRE on the Nov. 4 ballot at its Aug. 18 regular meeting.
What’s happening?
The revenue generated from the VATRE would help the district cut down the $5 million budget deficit it is facing in fiscal year 2025-26, according to previous reporting.
"Carroll ISD is facing a significant decline in student enrollment," Superintendent Jeremy Glenn said. "While we graduate more than 700 seniors each year, we are bringing in only about 420 kindergarten students. We expect to lose another 100 students next year. Fewer students means less funding from the state at a time when costs continue to rise and state support remains inadequate."
If voters approve the VATRE, the new tax rate would be $0.9294 per $100 of assessed property value, according to district documents.
The $3.8 million in generated revenue would reflect a 2.6% increase in maintenance and operation tax revenue from fiscal year 2024-25, per district documents.
The increase in maintenance and operation revenue will go toward funding staff, instruction, student services and operations, per district documents.
Diving deeper
The proposed tax rate is $0.0323 less than the approved tax rate for fiscal year 2024-25, which was $0.9617 per $100 valuation, according to previous reporting.
“[The tax rate] is the lowest it’s ever been in Carroll ISD history,” CISD board of trustees President Cameron Bryan said.
The proposed tax rate will include a maintenance and operations rate of $0.6853 per $100 valuation and a debt fund rate of $0.2441 per $100, per district documents
The district is increasing the maintenance and operations tax rate by $.0184 and decreasing its debt service tax rate by $0.0507, which results in an overall decrease in the fiscal year 2025-26 tax rate, said Chase Park, Carroll ISD’s deputy superintendent of business and finance.
For fiscal year 2024-25, the maintenance and operation tax rate was $0.6669 and the debt service rate was $0.2948.
"Essentially, what we're doing as a district is we're looking at how we invest our monies,” Glenn said. “We are lowering the tax rate overall year-over-year. However, as we reduce the [debt service] side ... we're looking to gain some of that back on the operation side.”
What’s next?
Tarrant County voters who live in CISD will have the following opportunities to cast their ballot and vote on the VATRE:
- Early voting is from Oct. 20-31
- Election Day is Nov. 4
