Western Travis County school districts are in the finalizing their 2016-17 budgets and deciding whether to fund employee raises and benefits adjustments.

Eanes ISD

The Eanes ISD board of trustees voted May 24 to give teachers and staff a 2 percent pay raise and increase the district’s contribution to employee benefits by 5 percent. The board plans to adopt the budget June 21 following a public hearing.

The district also plans to add 11 full-time positions in the 2016-17 school year, adding back some of the 27 positions it cut last year to cover the $5.7 million projected loss in state funding, said Claudia McWhorter, EISD executive director of communication and community engagement.

Superintendent Tom Leonard said the salary increase would keep the district in competition with other nearby districts.

“Simply, we really value our staff,” he said. “We want to attract good personnel, and we want to retain them.”

Leonard said the district was “constrained significantly” by the budget and the estimated $71 million the district had to take from its revenue this school year to give to the state as part of recapture, otherwise known as “Robin Hood,” which requires property-rich districts to give the state some of their property tax revenue to be redistributed to property-poor districts.

“We’re doing about as much as we can do,” he said. “I wish I could do more.”

Lake Travis ISD

The Lake Travis ISD board of trustees planned to decide whether to increase district salaries by 1.5 percent June 7, after the publication of this edition.

On May 17, LTISD Superintendent Brad Lancaster presented the board with the possibility of a tax swap.

The tax swap would move 2 cents from LTISD’s debt service tax rate to the district operations tax rate, said Johnny Hill, LTISD assistant superintendent for business, financial and auxiliary services. Under the operations tax rate, the 2 cents would not be subject to recapture and would generate an additional $2 million for the district annually, he said.

Whether or not the tax swap occurs, the tax rate would not increase, Lancaster said.

“I think there are very, very few cons [to the tax swap],” he said. “We’re in a better position than we were several years ago to do this kind of thing.”

He also discussed the possibility of a November 2017 bond election.

School districts such as LTISD issue bonds every few years to help fund projects such as facility improvements and additions as well as new technology.

Lancaster said if no tax swap occurs, the district could issue a bond of up to $247 million. If the tax swap occurs, it could issue a bond of up to $224 million.

Both the bond and the tax swap are subject to a community vote.