EDUCATION BRIEFS
News from Hutto & P ugerville ISDs
2022 EDUCATION EDITION
P ugerville ISD predicts it will be subject to state recapture for 2022 23 scal year
REDUCING THE SHORTFALL
P ugerville ISD could consider calling a voter approval tax rati cation election, or VATRE, for voter approval in November as a way of reducing a projected shortfall in the 2022-23 budget. 2022 23 school year
BY BRIAN RASH
Vernagene Mott said this time the district needs to be more savvy about marketing the election. “I think we need to creatively talk about who the key in uencers are in our community and see what we can do as a team working with community folks to educate them,” Mott said. “They will make their decision, but ... it’s up to all of us to help educate in that area.” For the 2022-23 school year, Land said the projected shortfall without a VATRE is $11.2 million, depending on certi ed tax values that the district will receive by the end of July. Despite what appears to be an imminent change for PfISD to become a recapture district, Land main- tained a successful VATRE could bring the de cit to as low as $3.7 million. Land said other measures to help curb the 2022- 23 shortfall include increasing secondary class size ratios, personnel reductions, the implementation of federal COVID-19 assistance and delaying the opening of Hidden Lake Elementary School to the 2023-24 school year. PfISD budget discussions will continue through August, and the budget and tax rate must be set
PFLUGERVILLE ISD Sta estimate the district will have to pay recapture for the rst time in the 2022-23 school year. The revelation came during a July 14 budget discussion when PfISD Chief Financial O cer Jen- nifer Land said she is “99.999% sure” the district will become subject to state recapture, which is a state policy of taking revenue from property-rich districts within a system more informally referred to as “Robin Hood.” In June, Land said the district would likely pay about $17.68 million in recapture to the state. Even though the status change means more money will be taken from the district, a discussion of de cit mitigation measures proposed during a June 16 regular meeting gave o cials reasons to be optimistic. One strategy Land proposed in June that she said could provide some budget relief would be to initiate another tax rati cation election, or VATRE, for November. Notably, o cials initiated a VATRE last Novem- ber, but the measure failed. Board President
$11.2 million
Predicted shortfall without VATRE
$3.7 million
Predicted shortfall with VATRE
Other ways to reduce the shortfall include: • increasing secondary class-size ratios; • reducing personnel to coincide with dips in enrollment; • implementing federal COVID-19 assistance; and • delaying the Hidden Lake Elementary School opening to the 2023-24 school year.
SOURCE: PFLUGERVILLE ISD COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
and passed by Aug. 22, which is also the deadline to call a VATRE, according to district o cials.
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PFLUGERVILLE HUTTO EDITION • AUGUST 2022
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