The Lubbock ISD Board of Trustees called for a Tax Ratification Election (TRE) at their board meeting today [Thursday].
The August 30 election will ask voters to approve keeping the district’s total tax rate at the same $1.235 per $100 valuation while allowing the district to access more than $5.5 million in state/local funds by shifting two cents of the tax rate from debt service to maintenance and operations. The shift will allow the district an annual increase in state funding to facilitate a “pay-as-you-go model” for instructional technology and priority capital projects.
Since 2006-07, Lubbock ISD has had the same tax rate of $1.235, which is comprised of a maintenance and operations tax rate of $1.04 and a debt service tax rate of $0.235. The tax rates cannot be adjusted without voter approval. State funding mechanisms reward local tax effort with additional state revenue for each of the two pennies above $1.04. While the tax rate will not change, the district will be able to service current debt on the existing payout schedule and add additional revenue to the maintenance and operations budget.
Superintendent Berhl Robertson, Jr., said, “This shift of two pennies from one side of the tax rate to the other is good business. It will allow us to pay cash for priority capital projects and instructional technology, like Chrome books and iPads, rather than financing those things over time. We have managed our bond projects well. We are at a point where we can pay off our debt on schedule and leverage state funds that we are leaving on the table in Austin.”
(Press release from Lubbock ISD)