China Spring ISD officials are painting the Nov. 4 tax election as a stark choice for the district’s future.
If the voter approval tax rate election passes, they say, it will allow the district to enhance programs, retain teachers and maintain class sizes.
If it fails, the district will have to tackle a $1.2 million budget deficit by laying off teachers and support staff, charging extracurricular fees, and slashing travel.
Either way, the tax rate will drop from 2024 levels due to changes in state funding formulas. With a yes vote, taxes will drop by 3.7 cents from its current rate of $1.02 per $100 valuation. A no vote will drop the rate by another 6 cents.
The school board called the election Aug. 18 in response to the projected deficit. Superintendent Marc Faulkner explained the district’s predicament at an Aug. 25 community forum.
“We’ve reached that point where efficiency alone is just not enough to continue attracting quality educators and maintaining manageable class sizes and maintaining the student opportunities that we have for kiddos,” he said. “Keeping that level of excellence that our community expects, that we expect as educators, that we just need long term, sustainable funding to do that.”
Deep cuts in forecast
The district has begun drafting a Plan B for how to bridge the deficit if the tax election fails, including:
- Cutting 10 teachers and at least 10 support staff,
- Limiting trips for sports and extracurricular activities to a certain radius and eliminating overnight stays, unless booster clubs can make up the difference,
- Charging students to participate in extracurricular activities.
- Cutting field trips, younger students tend to take two or three times a year.
Faulkner said school trips are the first exposure some China Spring students have of life outside the Waco area.
“I don’t want to have to do that, because I’m a firm believer that a lot of those things are what helps make us good, well-rounded human beings,” Faulkner said. “And I don’t want it to get to that, but those are areas that are on the list that it could come to if we’re having to balance a budget without the help of a VATRE.”
If the tax measure passes, the district could enhance programs, increase pay for teachers and staff and maintain class sizes.
Salary gap persists
Starting this school year, China Spring ISD has raised first-year teacher salaries to $44,000, but that still lags other districts that compete for the same talent pool. Robinson ISD’s starting pay is $50,400 and Lorena ISD’s is $45,600.
In the last year, China Spring ISD lost 58 employees, and an exit survey found compensation was a top reason for leaving.
China Spring officials said teacher retention has improved since the district converted to a four-day school week in 2023, but low pay continues to hurt retention.
If the tax rate passes, the district would be able to maintain its average class size of about 25 students. At the prekindergarten to fourth-grade level, the average class size is about 21.
The Nov. 4 ballot will present the tax measure as a tax increase, though the tax rate will actually drop with a yes or no vote. That’s because the Texas Legislature agreed to a “compression” plan in which school districts reduce their tax rate in exchange for more state funding.
If a school district wants to increase its maintenance and operations tax rate above the “maximum compressed tax rate” set by the state, it must get voter approval. China Spring’s tax election would result in a rate of 98.2 cents per $100 valuation, rather than the 92.2-cent rate that would be allowed without voter approval.
Deficit a long time coming
China Spring ISD officials say the $1.2 million deficit in the maintenance and operations budget is due to inflation and stagnant state funding.
In 2022, China Spring voters rejected a VATRE measure that would have increased the tax rate. Several other districts in McLennan County have passed VATRE measures, including Midway ISD in 2023.
China Spring officials said they have made fiscally responsible decisions, such as cutting 10% of its budget five years ago.
But they say costs have skyrocketed and outpaced the funding the district gets from the state. Per-pupil funding under the state’s “basic allotment” has barely grown in the last six years. School enrollment, which draws down that state funding, has been almost flat since 2021.
An example of the increased costs is property insurance for campuses and vehicles, which has more than doubled in the last four years, from $350,000 to $750,000.
Transportation is another growing cost, with the cost of a school bus rising from $98,000 to $135,000 in three years. Drivers are hard to find under the current pay scale, so school staff are pulling double duty, driving buses before and after school. That includes Faulkner himself, who gets up early each morning to drive a route.
Faulkner hoped that the Texas Legislature this spring would lighten China Spring ISD’s maintenance and operations load.
The $8.5 billion school finance package known as House Bill 2 netted an additional $2.5 million for China Spring ISD. But most of that money was earmarked for raises for experienced teachers, leaving the district with only about $188,000 in discretionary funds.
Those discretionary funds were not even enough to cover the $247,000 needed to cover technology upgrades to provide state-required testing options for students.
“We’re still upside down, in a deficit model,” Faulkner said.
The district will host a public meeting on the tax measure on Sept. 30. In addition, it will host virtual meetings on Sept. 10 and Oct. 14.
For more information on the election visit www.chinaspringisd.net/page/vatre.
