EDUCATION
P ugerville ISD voters to consider major initiatives on November ballot
A Texas school district must hold an ACE when the state classi ies it as property-wealthy, according to Chapter 49 of the Texas Education Code. PfISD has been designated a recapture district for the 2022-23 school year. District staff said the amount owed to the state is esti- mated at about $12 million. If passed, the PfISD ACE will allow the district to purchase atten- dance credits from the state and pay the district’s remaining recapture balance. If ACE fails, the Texas Education Agency will determine how to detach $1.2 billion in property valuation from the district, and PfISD may have to raise its 2023- 24 interest and sinking, or debt service, tax rate to accommodate the loss of revenue. Additionally, if the ACE election fails, students living within the detached area will attend a neigh- boring district to be determined, and taxpayers within the newly annexed district will pay a bill for that district. Bob Popinski, the senior director
of policy for public education advo- cacy group Raise Your Hand Texas, spoke at a Sept. 13 event about how recapture is becoming a larger issue as property values rise throughout the state. One way to offset the cost to school districts would be to raise the state’s basic allotment per student. For Proposition B, though the proposed tax rate for Pflugerville ISD is the lowest it has been in 30 years, the igure still exceeds what the state allows. Land said the total taxable valuation within the district increased from $17.6 billion in FY 2021-22 to $22.16 billion in FY 2022-23, representing an increase of about 26%. The rise in valuation means that a proposed rate of $1.2646 for 2022-23—$0.1234 lower than last year’s rate of $1.388—is still in excess of what is legally allowed by the state’s Senate Bill 2, which caps property tax revenue at 3.5% over the previous year. Following an assessment of iscal need for the 2022-23 school year, the PfISD board of trustees voted
BY BRIAN RASH
For the bond, listed as Proposi- tions C H, the bulk of the funding, under Proposition C, would address safety and security and aging condi- tions of campuses, such as addi- tions and renovations to elementary schools, capital improvement projects and purchasing land for future projects. For Proposition A, the special election is known as an attendance credit election, or ACE, and will allow the district to purchase attendance credits. This is the mechanism through which recap- ture payments are made to the state, PfISD Chief Financial Of icer Jennifer Land said. PfISD staff said the ACE will not increase the tax bill for property owners, and it is required by the state because this is the irst school year PfISD is of icially in recapture status.
Voters in P ugerville ISD will weigh in on three major initiatives under eight propositions Nov. 8. Under Proposition A, voters will consider an attendance credit election that will allow the district to make its rst recapture payment. Proposition B is the voter approval tax rate election, or VATRE, that allows the district to have a higher tax rate than what is allowed by the state. Superintendent Doug Killian said Propositions A and B would help the district to address rising operational costs as well as the district’s projected $12 million recapture bill. “The VATRE is basically going to generate some weighted funding from the state, and that’s the only way that we get to pay for in ationary costs in our district, other than talking to legis- lators and trying to get them to raise the basic allotment,” Killian said.
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