A Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election (VATRE) is an election that must be held when a school board adopts a tax rate that exceeds its voter approval tax rate.  It asks the voters to approve that rate.  Although the District’s total rate is decreasing, the adoption of four golden pennies to the maintenance and operations tax rate requires the voters of the district to approve the tax rate. 

The November ballot will ask voters to ratify the total tax rate, including the I&S (debt service tax rate), not just the M&O rate.  The ballot language is set by state law and will not mention that the overall tax rate is decreasing.  The ballot will read as follows:

“Ratifying the ad valorem tax rate of $1.358500/$100 in Pearland Independent School District for the current year, a rate that will result in an increase of 2.33 percent in maintenance and operations tax revenue for the district for the current year as compared to the preceding year, which is an additional $1,662,856.”

Election day is Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Early voting is October 13 – 30, 2020.

Registered Brazoria County voters may visit any designated polling locations in the county.

Polling Places – Early Voting:

https://www.brazoriacountyclerk.net/departments/elections/polling-places-early-voting

Polling Places – Election Day:

https://www.brazoriacountyclerk.net/departments/elections/polling-places-election-day

The deadline to register for the November 3 General Election is Monday, October 5 2020. Voter registration must be postmarked by Oct. 5.

Visit votetexas.gov for more information.

Property taxes owed to the school district may decrease or increase your annual tax bill, depending on your property value growth.

As an example, consider a residential home with a taxable value of $250,000:

• A taxpayer with no exemptions and no value growth will see a savings of $92.75 for the year. 
• A taxpayer with no exemptions and a 5% value growth will see an increase of $77.06 for the year

On average, the District’s homeowners experienced a 3.1% increase in residential values from 2019 to 2020; that amount coupled with a decrease in the total tax rate of 3.71 cents results in a total average increase of $12.53 for the entire year, or roughly $1.05 per month.

An increase of $10 million in funding will go a long way for our district in advancing our 2020 Strategic Goals.  Funding will assist as follows:

Students

• Provide funding to sustain the District’s one-to-one device initiative
• Additional student materials and equipment for every individual student to reduce the risk of spreading infectious diseases
• Enhance learning opportunities for students in college, career, and technical trades 
• Expand support for fine arts and other co- and extra-curricular programs
• Expand our Early Education Program

Staff

• Continue with our efforts to recruit, develop, support, and retain our stellar teachers and staff
• Provide for a competitive compensation package, including an increase to the District’s benefit contributions

Campuses/Departments

• Reinstate funding cuts put in place since 2018; including campus allotments
• Provide for bus replacement purchases (none since 2018)
• Provide funding to replace major equipment, roofs, and other facility repairs without seeking a bond election

District-Wide

• Provide support for additional expenditures as a result of the COVID pandemic; including personal protective supplies and equipment, cleaning and sanitation supplies, and other unforeseen costs.
• Prepare the district for possible funding cuts made to the 2021-2023 Biennium due to the COVID pandemic and its effects on the state’s economy.

Over 98.5% of the District’s general operations funding comes from school district property taxes and state funds; with the remaining 1.5% from federal funds.

The formula for funding District operations is set by the state’s Foundation School Program (FSP) administered by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and considers both student and district characteristics, including the number and type of students enrolled, district size, and local taxable property values and tax rates.

The following two formulas determine how much a district can generate locally (local share) through property taxes before making up the difference with state funds (state share):

1. Tier One (also known as the “basic entitlement”) provides the District with a basic level of funding through several allotments, including those for regular basic education, special education, dyslexia, bilingual education, career and technology, early education, compensatory education, college, career, or military readiness, and transportation.

Our district is responsible for funding a portion of its Tier One entitlement. The portion of the Tier One entitlement that the district is responsible for is called the local fund assignment, commonly referred to as the local share.

2. Tier Two (also known as “enrichment” funding) provides for enrichment funding which is intended to supplement the basic funding provided by Tier One funds.

The M&O tax rate is made up of a Tier One rate, also known as “Maximum Compressed Rate” (MCR), and a Tier Two or “Enrichment” tax rate. 

Tier One – this tax rate is calculated by a state compression formula that takes into consideration property value growth.  The higher the growth, the lower the MCR.

Tier Two – this enrichment tax rate consists of up to 17 additional cents; the first 8 cents are known as “golden pennies” and the remaining 9 cents as “copper pennies”.

The Tier One tax rate for 2020 is dropping by 7.71 cents; however, the Board of Trustees adopted a tax rate that would increases the rate by 4 cents.  The adopted M&O tax rate for 2020 would still be 3.71 cents lower than in 2019.

The district has no control over the change in the MCR as it is driven by a state compression formula; however, for tax year 2020, the District may increase the Tier Two tax rate as follows:

• Add up to one cent to the Tier Two tax rate with unanimous board approval, or
• Add up to 13 cents to the Tier Two tax rate with 2/3 board approval, which automatically triggers a Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election (VATRE) on the November 3, 2020 ballot.

Although the total tax rate is dropping by 3.71 cents, the Board of Trustees at the August 11, 2020 Board meeting, adopted a tax rate that adds four cents to the Tier Two tax rate, automatically triggering voter approval.

Pearland ISD has a history of operating efficiently by maintaining one of the lowest tax rates and costs per student in the state while achieving high academic success.  To accomplish this, the District has:

• Implemented cost-avoidance measures
• Renegotiated contracts
• District-wide budget cuts
• Staffing tightly to enrollment projections
• Established a Capital Projects Fund to fund facilities and equipment maintenance and repairs
• Strategically managed debt
• Implemented investment strategies