Education
BY MARY KATHERINE SHAPIRO
Learn how Lewisville ISD Education Foundation supports students, sta For 35 years, the Lewisville ISD Education Foun- dation, LEF, has supported students and teachers in the district through scholarships and grants. In this Q&A, Executive Director Bill Lee talks about what the organization does and shares details about its annual fundraising events. Why was the Lewisville ISD Education Foundation founded? LEF was founded in 1990 because people saw a need. They saw teachers having to come out of pocket to buy things in their classrooms and there wasn’t any sort of a mechanism to help students get scholarship opportunities. It was formed as an o cial nonpro t foundation, and it just continued to grow. Over the years we’ve given back over $7 million to Lewisville ISD in the form of teacher
grants and student scholarships. How have you seen LEF make a positive impact on students and teachers? If you can imagine a big science project with microscopes and test gear and all that stu , that touches every student that goes through that class, possibly for years. We have so many success sto- ries of students that have gotten LEF scholarships that really catapulted them to great things. How they are able to use that on their future resumes and things like that play a play a big role. Can you share details about LEF’s fundraising events? We have our golf tournament that’s in October every year. It’s one of the largest tournaments in Denton County. It’s at The Lakes at Castle Hills and it’s just an awesome event. Our gala is another huge event. In February 2026, we’re bringing back the biggest and most popular gala that LEF used to do year after year. We call it our major foodie event. You’ll be sam- pling from up to 20 di erent restaurants.
AISD’s tax rate from scal year 2021 26 Argyle ISD’s tax rate has decreased since scal year 2021-22. Maintenance and operations rate Interest and sinking rate
Tax rate (per $100 valuation)
More LISD, AISD news 3 education stories to watch
$1.5
$0.485 $0.915
$0.5
$0.5
$0.5
$0.5
$1
$0.8976
$0.7122
$0.7099
$0.6727
$0.5
1 Lewisville ISD o cials adopt $573.5M operating budget, tax rate for FY 2025 26 The district plans to use $2.88 million from its fund balance to eliminate what would have been a nearly $2.88 million shortfall in the budget. 2 LISD trustees discuss the 2025 26 district improvement plan LISD Chief of Sta Shawna Miller said sta will present the plan to the board for action at a September meeting. 3 Argyle ISD approves another 5 teaching positions The Argyle ISD Board of Trustees approved hiring ve teachers for the 2025-26 school year in August. The additional sta will help keep elementary class sizes at a 22-1 ratio.
$0
2024-25
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
2025-26
Fiscal year
SOURCE: ARGYLE ISD COMMUNITY IMPACT
Argyle ISD trustees adopt surplus budget Argyle ISD o cials approved the budget for scal year 2025-26 with a $1 million surplus. The district’s board of trustees approved the total $67.89 million budget during an Aug. 18 meeting in a 6-0 vote with Trustee Leigh Ann Artho absent. The district also approved a tax rate of $1.1727
per $100 of assessed value, which is just under four pennies less than last scal year, Chief Finan- cial O cer Liz Stewart said. A closer look The general fund has $68.94 million in projected revenue and $67.89 million in expenses, creating a surplus of nearly $1.05 million. The maintenance and operations tax rate is $0.6727 per $100 of assessed value, which is a decrease from the 2024-25 scal year. The interest and sinking tax rate remains the same as the previous scal year at $0.5000 per $100 valuation.
Bill Lee is the executive director of the Lewisville ISD Education Foundation.
COURTESY LEWISVILLE ISD EDUCATION FOUNDATION
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. For a longer version, visit communityimpact.com .
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