Carmen Arrieta-Candelaria, Fort Worth ISD’s chief financial officer, quickly crunched the numbers.
Trustee Kevin Lynch had proposed slashing 4 cents from the district’s proposed property tax rate for the 2024-25 school year. He said residents are dealing with high property tax bills while their school district has yet to deliver on improved student outcomes.
“Just off the cuff,” Arrieta-Candelaria told trustees Aug. 27, “I think it’s a $20 million impact.”
Lynch’s proposal failed in a 3-6 vote. Trustees instead adopted a property tax rate that remains at the same level as it did during the 2023-24 school year. However, some residents likely will face slightly higher bills because of increasing property values. Still, the CFO expects reduced revenues because of lower than expected enrollment.
The new tax rate is $1.0624 per $100 of valuation, the highest rate the district can levy without asking voters to approve an increase in an election. School districts across Tarrant County, including Northwest ISD and Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, will ask voters to approve tax increases in November.
Trustees Roxanne Martinez, Tobi Jackson, Camille Rodriguez, Quinton Phillips, Wallace Bridges and Anne Darr voted in favor of the new rate. Trustees Michael Ryan and Anael Luebanos joined Lynch in dissenting.
On first glance, the new rate appears to be the same as the one levied during the 2023-24 school year. A closer look at the two numbers that form the topline charge — the maintenance-and-operations rate and the debt service rate — shows shifting fractions of a cent.
The district’s maintenance-and-operations rate saw a decrease of .35 cents. The debt service rate increased by the same amount.
To bring in the same amount of revenue as the previous year, trustees would have had to adopt the no-new-revenue rate of $1.026798, or about 3.5 cents less than the rate the school board approved.
How does the new tax rate affect my school taxes?
Under the new tax rate, the average taxpayer in Fort Worth ISD can expect to pay slightly more to the school district during the 2024-25 academic year, according to a tax rate notice.
The average home in Fort Worth ISD has an appraised value of $295,902. However, only $161,214 of the value is used for taxes. Exemptions, such as the $100,000 homestead exemption that rolled out in 2023, are included in that figure.
The average property tax bill to Fort Worth ISD would be $1,713 — $107 more than what the average homeowner paid in 2023.
Last year, the average home in Fort Worth ISD had an appraised value of $287,644 and only $151,096 was used for taxes. That homeowner paid $1,605 in property taxes to Fort Worth ISD.
As for enrollment, Arrieta-Candelaria reminded trustees that the district’s $844.2 million general fund budget was based on 69,576 students attending Fort Worth ISD. Texas funds schools based on the number of students who attend classes.
As of Aug. 27, the district had 69,393 students enrolled, 183 shy of its target.
Lynch questioned if that number will increase as the school year moves along.
“Just based on historical trends, that number has come up slightly,” the CFO said. “We’re looking to make sure that we actually do meet enrollment.”
Resident Joe Palmer said Fort Worth ISD overtaxes and supported cutting the tax rate. He pointed to the district’s $359 million in reserves and suggested trustees use that money to spend down debt and cut the tax rate.
“You’ve got plenty of cash in there,” Palmer said.
Parent Layne Craig supported the new tax rate. Lowering the tax rate would not save the district any money, and instead shifts costs on to parents and teachers in the short term, she said.
Craig, who is involved in the PTAs at her children’s schools, said she is fortunate enough to be in a position to donate and support her children’s schools. Not all can do that.
“Short-sighted tax policy also costs our city in the long term because we need a strong, equitable, well-funded public education system to raise tomorrow’s leaders,” Craig said.
Arrieta-Candelaria also teed up another issue that the school board will face as the district assembles budgets over the next couple of years — the Tarrant Appraisal District’s new reappraisal plan.
Fort Worth ISD trustees approved a resolution denouncing the changes in mid-August, along with their disapproval of the appraisal district’s 2025 budget. The budget must receive approval from a majority of taxing entities to move forward.
She highlighted two pieces: residential properties getting reappraised every two years and the freezing of residential market values in 2025.
“Both have the greatest impact to the district in regards to property values and how we incorporate the tax rate into our budget plan. Potentially, we would not see a reappraisal with new values until Jan. 1, 2027,” Arrieta-Candelaria said.
Jacob Sanchez is a senior education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
