The Conroe ISD board of trustees will consider adopting a tax rate of $1.2125 for fiscal year 2020-21, a $0.0175 decrease from its FY 2019-20 tax rate of $1.23.

The trustees heard a preliminary presentation from Chief Financial Officer Darren Rice during an Aug. 4 meeting. Rice has said the decrease is possible because the Texas Legislature allowed the district to access an additional golden penny, which are pennies within a Texas school district’s maintenance and operations, or M&O, tax bill that cannot be subject to state recapture. The district currently uses four golden pennies.

The district’s funding should amount to about $582.45 million, according to Rice, if the district enrolls 1,500 new students as predicted. This is an increase of about $26.83 million from the FY 2019-20 revenue. In the district’s funding, the only decrease is in its investments due to the downturn in the economy.

For expenditures, the district is projecting to spend $571.58 million. This is an increase of roughly $22 million from FY 2019-20. The largest expenditure is salary. The board previously approved cost-of-living raises for all district employees, including a 3% pay increase for teachers, librarians, nurses and counselors.

No citizens spoke during the public hearing portion of the meeting. The next board meeting is scheduled for Aug. 18, when there will be a public hearing before the board adopts its tax rate and budget.