If approved, district officials said the VATRE would generate $7.4 million in additional funding that would go toward teacher raises, additional pay for staff through a loyalty program, and increasing pay and positions for school resource officers.
Prior to deciding on the VATRE, the district surveyed the community and parents on what they wanted the board to focus on when it came to planning the budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
“[The community] told us very clearly three things that we should focus on is to increase staff compensation for teachers and for hourly employees, to provide for security and the safety of campuses and to make sure that we’re keeping class sizes low for kids,” Superintendent Jason Bullock said.
Two-minute impact
MISD officials first introduced the idea of a VATRE during early budget talks for fiscal year 2024-25 in mid-April before officially recommending the option in late July, Community Impact previously reported.
Trustees passed a balanced $143.1 million budget Aug. 26 and approved an alternative $150.5 million balanced budget should the VATRE pass, according to prior reporting. The alternative budget outlines 4%-8% in teacher raises, while the current budget includes the 1%-3% teacher raises trustees approved in May.
“We focus dollars on our teachers, and that’s what we’ll continue to do, because nothing is more important than the talent that we put in front of our students in that classroom,” Assistant Superintendent of Operations Erich Morris said.
Other Houston-area school districts have also called for VATREs in November. Spring ISD passed a FY 2024-25 budget that included potential VATRE funds in a split vote June 11, as previously reported by Community Impact. Meanwhile, on Aug. 19, Montgomery ISD’s board called for a VATRE for November that would raise $5.5 million as the district faces a $4.3 million shortfall.
Missy Bender, the executive director of the Texas School Coalition—which represents districts that pay recapture—said the state’s school finance system “severely limits school districts’ options for raising revenue.”
“Passing a VATRE is the simplest, most direct way for school districts to increase funding when the state Legislature is not making the investments in public education needed to keep up with rising costs,” Bender said in a Sept. 24 email.
This is the second time MISD has put its tax rate in front of voters, per prior reporting. The last time was in 2018, when the district held a tax ratification election in a bid to increase the maintenance and operations tax rate—which goes towards general fund items such as salaries and supplies—by 10 pennies and decrease the debt service rate—which pays down debt—by 10 pennies. This failed by less than 100 votes, Morris said.
This time around, district officials said they believe the need for the VATRE is the lack of additional public funding from the state. Texas legislators have not increased the district’s basic allotment—which sits at $6,160 per student—since 2019, and measures to provide districts with additional funding did not materialize in the last legislative session in 2023.
“Making the decision to call the election really comes down to funding and the fact that the basic allotment hasn’t grown any for public schools since 2019, and inflation continues to rise,” Bullock said.
Stay tuned
Should the VATRE pass, the additional funding would go into effect this school year, Bullock said. Morris also said the passage of the VATRE would create additional funding for years to come.
“These three pennies and the additional revenue associated with them would be perennial, if you will,” Morris said. “It’s not a one-time payment and then we go back to square one. These are additional dollars that will benefit us from here on out.”
If the VATRE does not pass, Bullock said the district will receive no additional funding and will be watching the Legislature when it reconvenes Jan. 14 to see if any additional funding for public schools materializes.
“The lack of funding for public education has put our state’s economic success at risk, because it is public schools that will educate most of our future workforce,” Bender said.
