School districts across Texas are in the process of setting their budgets for 2025-26, and those budgets are largely funded by property tax revenue. The taxes combine two elements: a maintenance and operations tax (M&O) and an interest and sinking tax (I&S). The funds go toward supporting daily operations and paying debt service on bonds that voters approve for building facilities, respectively.   Based on data provided by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, here’s the rates and levies for school districts in the Houston area for 2024-25.  view article

The move comes after trustees voted to close a school, relocate its STEM program, reduce pay for uncertified teachers, modify its library services program and close vacancies to cut costs. Now, they're looking to raise revenue. view article

A group of 42 Republican members of the Texas House is urging Gov. Greg Abbott to veto legislation passed in the final days of the legislative session that would allow public school teachers to serve on local property appraisal review boards—a measure Abbott previously rejected. Brandon Waltens has the story. view article

Texas lawmakers signed off Saturday on a $338 billion two-year spending plan that directs billions toward hiking teacher pay, cutting property taxes and shoring up the state’s water infrastructure, after House and Senate budget writers ironed out their differences and won approval from both chambers on their final draft.  The budget now heads to Comptroller Glenn Hegar, who is expected to verify there is enough revenue to cover the Legislature’s planned spending — the last step before the 1,056-page bill reaches Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk  The spending plan doles out the money to run the state’s business for the next two years, from September through the end of August 2027. It includes the underlying funding for some of the biggest bills passed this session, much of it paid for with general revenue, Texas’ main source of taxpayer funds used to cover core services.  A large chunk of the budget — more than one out of every seven dollars — is devoted to maintaining and providing new property tax cuts, a tab that has grown to $51 billion. For the last several years, lawmakers have tried to rein in Texans’ property tax bills by sending billions of dollars to school districts to reduce how much in property taxes they collect from homeowners and businesses. view article

Providing bigger tax breaks to homeowners is a key component of a deal brokered by Republicans in the Texas Legislature to lower tax bills for Texans.  Texas homeowners are one step closer to a bigger tax break after the Texas House gave unanimous final approval to a set of legislative proposals Wednesday.  House members approved bills aimed at giving homeowners relief on the property taxes they pay toward school districts, the biggest chunk of a property owner’s tax bill. Senate Bill 4 by state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican, would change the state’s homestead exemption, which reduces how much of a home’s value can be taxed to pay for public schools, from $100,000 to $140,000.  Senate Bill 23, another Bettencourt proposal, would raise a separate homestead exemption for homeowners who are older or have disabilities from $10,000 to $60,000. view article

The Texas House must approve changes to the proposal that were brokered by party leaders. It’s part of a package of bills to bring down property taxes statewide. view article

Legislators in the House and Senate have reached an agreement on more property tax relief. But some critics worry the cuts aren’t sustainable forever. view article

Legislators in the House and Senate have reached an agreement on more property tax relief. But some critics worry the cuts aren’t sustainable forever. view article

As Lubbock Independent School District faces shrinking student enrollment, trustees are asking voters to approve $290 million in new bond debt—and they’re claiming “no tax increase is required” to repay the debt. With interest, the bond would cost local property taxpayers $566 million, according to the district’s own estimates—almost double the dollar amount voters will see on the May 3 ballot. view article

Offering the one-year reappraisal reprieve was a high priority for some newly elected appraisal district board members last year. But the idea was so new that the agency’s top leaders were still hashing out how to make it work hours before the state’s deadline to formalize its policies for 2025 and 2026. view article

Beaumont ISD says it's experiencing notable success in its efforts to recruit new staff, particularly teachers. The district has expanded its search, attracting educators with advanced degrees and years of experience. Brandon Basinger, Assistant Director of Human Resources, tells KFDM/Fox 4 the the number of highly qualified teachers has more than doubled, from 30 to 62. view article

COLLEGE STATION (Texas Real Estate Research Center) – Texas’ housing market slowed in February after persistently low mortgage interest rates contributed to record sales in the existing-home sector the previous month. "Sales activity was greatly hindered by February’s unseasonably wintery weather that caused power outages and water disruptions across the state," said Dr. Luis Torres, research economist for the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University. Existing-homes sold through the Texas Multiple Listing Services declined 16 percent from January, drawing even with year-ago levels. Despite slower sales, the state’s existing-home inventory fell below 1.5 months in February. The number of new listings that hit the market declined for the second straight month to their lowest reading since April 2020, when the state was under a stay-at-home mandate. view article

Count on the Texas Legislature to come up with a painfully complicated and inefficient way to repeal a painfully complicated and inefficient tax. Lawmakers deserve praise for targeting the Texas Franchise Tax, but their methods are unsound. The franchise tax, also called the margins or business tax, ranks consistently as one of the worst taxes anywhere in the country. It was the convoluted response to the Texas Supreme Court declaring the public school finance system unconstitutional. Lawmakers had to lower property taxes to comply with the court order, so to find replacement funds they rewrote the franchise tax, what businesses pay for the privilege to operate in our great state. view article

The Dallas school board Thursday night voted against putting a tax ratification election before voters this fall. The proposed 13-cent tax hike would have given the district $100 million to fund early childhood education and early college high school programs. The district also wanted to expand a program that pays extra money to top teachers who take jobs in some of the district’s toughest schools. view article

Trustees of the Wylie Independent School District proposed a tax rate of $1.13 per $100 of property value for the 2016-17 fiscal year — a tax cut of 2.4 cents — and added more money to the proposed budget for teachers' salaries during Monday's regular board meeting. Trustees conducted their third of three workshops for the 2016-17 budget of $32.340 million and set a special meeting for Monday, Aug. 29, at 6:30 p.m. to receive comments from the public on the budget and tax rate and then consider approval. view article

School trustees in Kilgore began their budget-writing season Monday with an overview of what is and isn’t known about financing the 2014-15 school year. view article