Voter-Approval Tax Rate Elections (VATRE) School boards across the state are working to adopt budgets for the upcoming school year and tax rates to finance them. Many school boards are adopting a tax rate that exceeds the district’s “voter-approval tax rate” to provide more revenue for expenses such as employee pay raises, increasing current staffing…

School boards are required to adopt a budget and tax rate to finance that budget each year. As part of that process, the school board is required to calculate a “voter-approval tax rate” (previously known as the “rollback” rate).

The TTARA Research Foundation has released the sixth edition of the award-winning “An Introduction to School Finance in Texas.” The publication is written to educate readers about the state’s school finance system and includes changes and updates passed by the 88th Texas Legislature and signed into law. A copy of the primer can be downloaded here. Hard…

New version includes updates from the 88th Legislature.