Prop A: VATRE

  • Voter Approval Tax Rate Ratification Election

    After months of reviewing financial predictions and studying the state’s school funding system in which legislators have not increased per student funding since 2019, the LISD Board of Trustees asked voters to approve a VATRE in Nov. 2023.

    LISD residents approved the VATRE with 69.36% of voters in favor of the prop, generating $37.5 million annually to help sustain competitive staff pay and maintain student instructional opportunities and programs of choice. Because the state announced it would compress LISD’s Maintenance & Operations (M&O) Tier 1 tax rate to the lowest possible amount at $0.6192 in the fall of 2023, the total LISD tax rate decreased by 11.7%, or 10.6 cents, even with the passage of the VATRE.

  • Additional Details

    Prior to asking voters to approve a VATRE, LISD faced a $48M deficit budget that would impact student instructional and program opportunities. The district underwent cost-cutting measures to help close the deficit before it asked voters to consider additional funding through the VATRE, inculding:

    • Upholding debt management policies that call for general bond debt to be paid within 20 years
    • Upholding debt management policies that call for technology bond debt to be paid within 5 years
    • Applying savings from the 2017 Bond to high priority projects
    • Cutting $9 million from the LISD administrative budget
    • Approving a 2023-2024 budget that calls for refunding or defeasing approximately $69.5 million in debt service payments

    Before calling a VATRE, state law requires the district to complete a third-party efficiency audit. The Efficiency Audit conducted by Whitley Penn highlighted the following:

    • LISD serves more Special Education and and Bilingual /English as a Second Language students than our peers
    • LISD receives less revenue per student than our peers
    • LISD expends more per student than our peers
    • LISD provides a lower student/teacher ratio than our peers
    • Lewisville ISD – Effciency Audit