MANOR, Texas — Since Texas didn't increase public school funding last year, some Central Texas school districts called voter-approved tax rate elections to raise tax revenue.
The measures ranged from wanting to increase school budgets to raise teacher salaries to upgrading school facilities. Tuesday night, voters in some districts gave those measures the green light.
Voters approved the tax rates in Austin, Manor, and San Marcos ISDs, while voters rejected the rates in Liberty Hill, Marble Falls, and Blanco.
Manor ISD Superintendent Robert Sormani said he stayed up till 4 a.m. Wednesday waiting for the results.
“I feel so happy for my staff that they could have some great news to wake up to [Wednesday] morning and know that there's gonna be a little bit extra in their paycheck moving forward,” Sormani said.
Manor ISD’s Proposition A asked voters to approve or reject a tax rate of $1.08 per taxable $100. If passed, it would allow the district to access the maximum amount of tax revenue from "golden pennies," which are funds that are not subject to recapture and would remain with Manor ISD.
Sormani said it would add $4.8 million to their school budget and increase staff salaries another 2% of the midpoint in the school year. He said it’s the support they've needed for years.
“Districts all across the state of Texas are really hurting in their budgets because there's been no new revenue since 2019 from the state level,” Sormani said.
With the rise in maintenance costs and inflation, teacher's salaries have taken a hit. The raise would support teachers like Megan Beth Hedgecock who says every bit of the money helps. Hedgecock has been teaching in Texas for 16 years, with the last five years at Manor Tech High.
“I wanted to do good work for kids. I wanted to be able to do authentic best practices, and I have the opportunity to do all that here” Hedgecock said.
However, Hedgecock said supporting students to the fullest sometimes takes money. She said it's a personal choice, but she spends up to $3,000 dollars of her own paycheck to buy students school supplies, feminine hygiene products, books, and more.
“If we don't decorate the classes, if we don't provide books ... There's a lot of things that just don't come with what we get,” Hedgecock said. “I think my kids deserve all of that and more, but that means I’ve got to spend money.”
Hedgecock, along with many other teachers, has a second job to make ends meet. She said the tax rate passing means people care about the kids as much as the teachers do.
“It gives us more time to spend on our kids, and our schools, and our classes," Hedgecock said. "Instead of thinking about, ‘How am I gonna afford to drive to work?’"
Staff salaries will also include janitors, teachers, police officers, and social workers. Sormani said staff raises will begin to appear in paychecks within the next month.
“We are gonna pay what staff would have made for the first few months of the year and then spread that out among their future paychecks,” Sormani said.
Despite the tax rate, Sormani said taxes will actually fall to $1.84. He says school districts have two tax rates: the maintenance and operation tax and the construction and capital project tax. Manor ISD is nearing the end of its 2019 bond program and construction projects and will be able to pay back $28 million to taxpayers in the spring ahead of schedule.
Sormani said the community’s support speaks to the value of the teachers and the work they do. He said it will be an investment in current teachers and the recruitment of future ones.
“Salaries get people in the door, but I think– more than anything else– that’s symbolic," Sormani said. "Saying we care about our schools. Salaries get people in the door, it's the culture of the community that keeps them here.”
For those other districts whose tax rate ballot measures failed -- it's back to the drawing board.
Marble Falls ISD said in a statement they will continue to love and support every child to inspire them to their full potential. While the district is disappointed with the outcome of the election, they are working with their board of trustees to assess their budget, while still providing a high-quality education.
They say they also hope the upcoming legislative session will provide support to public schools in Texas.