Keller ISD board members unanimously approved a tax rate of $1.0852 per $100 valuation for fiscal year 2024-25 during their regular meeting on Sept. 26.

The details

According to the Texas Education Agency, public school taxes involve two figures, which divide school district budgets into two buckets. The first bucket is the maintenance & operations budget, which funds daily costs and recurring or consumable expenditures, such as:
  • Teacher and staff salaries
  • Supplies
  • Gas and utilities
The second bucket is the interest & sinking budget, also known as debt service, which is used to repay debt for longer-term capital improvements. This can include building new schools, which is approved by voters through bond elections.

Chief Operations Officer John Allison said the FY 2024-25 tax rate for Keller ISD is made up of the following components:
  • The M&O tax rate presented for adoption is $0.7552—which represents a decrease of $0.0023—from last year’s M&O rate of $0.7575.
  • The I&S tax rate presented for adoption is $0.3300. This represents no change from the previous year.
A closer look

While the tax rate reflects a decrease from the previous year, Allison said it is above the no-new-revenue tax rate that would have provided the district with the same level of M&O revenue as last year. Had the board adopted the no-new-revenue tax rate for FY 2024-25, Allison said it would have been $1.0470 per $100 valuation, which would have required the district to reduce revenue by just under $8 million.




Allison reiterated what he has said in recent meetings about why staff recommended a tax rate above the no-new-revenue rate. The state has not increased per student funding, which has stayed at $6,160 since 2019. While state funding hasn’t changed since then, Allison pointed out the increases in following district expenditures from 2019 to 2023:
  • Fuel: $583,604
  • Insurance: $3.4 million
  • Utilities: $2.1 million
  • Transportation: $1.9 million
  • Staffing: $22.4 million
“Schools are not immune to inflation,” Allison said. “The cost of being in the school business continues to go up.”

Quote of note

While several board members said it is their fiduciary responsibility to look out for taxpayers in the district and do their best to keep taxes low, they put the blame squarely on the state for having to approve a rate above the no-new-revenue rate.

“We can’t depend on the state to make the right decision in the next [legislative session],” Place 7 trustee Heather Washington said. “It’s a no-win situation here. They’ve put us in a very difficult position.”