Round Rock ISD faces rising maintenance and operational costs, while its revenue is decreasing. Rising costs are largely due to inflationary pressures. The district's flat revenue levels result from multiple factors. First, the last state legislature increased the state’s major educational funding mechanism, the per-student basic allotment, by 1%, after six years of making no adjustments. This recent increase was not adequate to compensate for inflation during these years. Second, the district’s enrollment has not only leveled off, it has declined by almost 4% since 2016. This reduces the district’s Average Daily Attendance (ADA) upon which the basic allotment is based. Fluctuating property values and state legislative increases to property tax exemptions have also contributed to reduced revenue and funding gaps for the district.
The district has implemented cost-cutting measures such as renegotiating contracts and revising staffing to better match enrollment. However, payroll and employee benefits make up over 90% of the district’s Maintenance and Operations (M&O) budget. Not only is it difficult to cut in these areas, but a failure to provide minimal salary increases can hurt recruitment and retention of qualified staff, which negatively impacts student outcomes.
THIS IS A TAX INCREASE
Ratifying the ad valorem tax rate of $0.9484 per $100 valuation in Round Rock Independent School District for the current year, a rate that will result in an increase of 3.09 percent in maintenance and operations tax revenue for the District for the current year as compared to the preceding year, which is an additional $12,313,099.
The district is asking the voters to authorize increasing the Maintenance and Operations (M&O) tax rate (currently $0.7101 per $100 property valuation) by $0.06, bringing the M&O portion of the tax rate to $0.7654. The district plans no change to the Interest & Sinking (I&S) tax rate (currently $0.1830). The overall tax rate would change from the current $0.8931 to $0.9484. The new tax rate would generate approximately $30 million more in M&O revenue. However, this additional revenue would be subject to recapture by the states, so only approximately half of it would be available for the district to use.
If the proposition passes, the district plans to use the increased revenue to fund a 2% pay increase (based on the midpoint of each pay range) for staff and teachers who did not receive a raise through the Teacher Retention Allotment. They also plan to use some of the revenue to make adjustments to reduce the effects of compensation compression. (Compensation compression can occur in competitive labor markets, causing salaries of newer hires to be disproportionate to those of existing employees.)
The district estimates that tax impact for an owner of a median-value home eligible for the homestead exemption would be an increase of $199/year, or $16.59/month.
If the proposition fails, Round Rock ISD will not receive increased funding, and the district will not be able to increase teacher and staff salaries or resolve salary compression inequities. Taxpayers will continue to be taxed at the previous rate of $0.8931 per $100 valuation.
Website: www.roundrockisd.org/page/2026-vatre
Round Rock ISD faces rising maintenance and operational costs, while its revenue is decreasing. Rising costs are largely due to inflationary pressures. The district's flat revenue levels result from multiple factors. First, the last state legislature increased the state’s major educational funding mechanism, the per-student basic allotment, by 1%, after six years of making no adjustments. This recent increase was not adequate to compensate for inflation during these years. Second, the district’s enrollment has not only leveled off, it has declined by almost 4% since 2016. This reduces the district’s Average Daily Attendance (ADA) upon which the basic allotment is based. Fluctuating property values and state legislative increases to property tax exemptions have also contributed to reduced revenue and funding gaps for the district.
The district has implemented cost-cutting measures such as renegotiating contracts and revising staffing to better match enrollment. However, payroll and employee benefits make up over 90% of the district’s Maintenance and Operations (M&O) budget. Not only is it difficult to cut in these areas, but a failure to provide minimal salary increases can hurt recruitment and retention of qualified staff, which negatively impacts student outcomes.
THIS IS A TAX INCREASE
Ratifying the ad valorem tax rate of $0.9484 per $100 valuation in Round Rock Independent School District for the current year, a rate that will result in an increase of 3.09 percent in maintenance and operations tax revenue for the District for the current year as compared to the preceding year, which is an additional $12,313,099.
The district is asking the voters to authorize increasing the Maintenance and Operations (M&O) tax rate (currently $0.7101 per $100 property valuation) by $0.06, bringing the M&O portion of the tax rate to $0.7654. The district plans no change to the Interest & Sinking (I&S) tax rate (currently $0.1830). The overall tax rate would change from the current $0.8931 to $0.9484. The new tax rate would generate approximately $30 million more in M&O revenue. However, this additional revenue would be subject to recapture by the states, so only approximately half of it would be available for the district to use.
If the proposition passes, the district plans to use the increased revenue to fund a 2% pay increase (based on the midpoint of each pay range) for staff and teachers who did not receive a raise through the Teacher Retention Allotment. They also plan to use some of the revenue to make adjustments to reduce the effects of compensation compression. (Compensation compression can occur in competitive labor markets, causing salaries of newer hires to be disproportionate to those of existing employees.)
The district estimates that tax impact for an owner of a median-value home eligible for the homestead exemption would be an increase of $199/year, or $16.59/month.
If the proposition fails, Round Rock ISD will not receive increased funding, and the district will not be able to increase teacher and staff salaries or resolve salary compression inequities. Taxpayers will continue to be taxed at the previous rate of $0.8931 per $100 valuation.
Website: www.roundrockisd.org/page/2026-vatre
