Tax rate elections
Friendswood ISD's board of trustees at its Aug. 21 meeting passed the budget and tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year, and as a result triggered a voter-approval tax rate election, or VATRE. Voters will have a chance in November to decide if they want to provide the district with more revenue. The VATRE being considered would generate $1.2 million for the district.
Pearland ISD's board of trustees also passed a VATRE at its Aug. 21 meeting with a similar goal of closing up a shortfall in its fiscal year 2023-24 budget. The PISD VATRE, if approved in November, would bring in more than $11 million in revenue to help plug up a $12.7 million shortfall for the budget, which was approved in June.
Both districts also have approved pay raises but could give a second pay raise if their respective VATREs were to pass in November.
Alvin ISD's board of trustees did not consider a VATRE.
STAAR results
Spring 2023 results for the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, were released Aug. 16. The results were released later than usual due to a redesign that went into full effect this past school year.
Alvin ISD had a higher passing rate in all but a few exams when compared to its 2022 spring results. The district’s overall passing rates were closer to the region and state averages than some of its neighboring districts, but the district still had higher rates overall.
Friendswood ISD, meanwhile, had a 90% passing rate in all but a few exams across all grade levels. It notched another year where the district had 90% or more on nearly every exam. As a result, it also scored higher than the state and region averages for each non-Spanish exam.
Pearland ISD also outperformed the region and state averages and saw improvement in a few tests when compared to its own spring 2022 scores. Overall, reading and math results for each grade level were close to identical from spring 2022 to spring 2023.
All three school districts belong to Region 4, which contains nearly 50 school districts, according to the region’s website.
