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.
