McKinney voters decide how district pays recapture in May election

McKinney ISD voters have given the district the permission it needs to continue its method of making recapture payments.

The ballot item asks voters to allow the district to purchase attendance credit from the state with local tax revenue in the May 1 general election. With all precincts reporting, results show 76.9% of the votes have been cast in favor of the measure and 23.1% have been cast against.

Because of a state law change, MISD had to ask voters to approve the process it uses to make recapture payments to the state each year.

The recapture program, also known as Robin Hood, requires property-wealthy school districts to send some of their local tax revenue to the state to be redistributed to property-poor districts. The goal, according to state officials, is an attempt to create financial equity among schools.

Since the 2014-15 school year, MISD has paid more than $13.6 million in recapture payments by purchasing attendance credits from the Texas Education Agency. The revenue from these attendance credits gets redistributed to other property-poor districts.

Every district in Texas that makes recapture payments uses this method, officials said. This election was slated for the May 2020 general election but was postponed until now due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the measure passed, the district will continue to make payments as it has done for the past seven years.

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