Months after passing sweeping changes to its reappraisal plan, the Tarrant Appraisal District board will meet March 12 to discuss whether some of those changes should be walked back. The meeting follows outcry from school district leaders who say the policies could lead to funding cuts.
“The board will have a work session to discuss, in general, what the plan is and the issues the schools have brought up,” Chief Appraiser Joe Don Bobbitt said. After the work session, the board will convene a regular meeting where they can vote on action items.
“We don’t have the agenda drafted yet, so we don’t know if it will be an action item or not,” he continued. “It’s just, the board’s intent right now is to discuss it in our work session.”
In August, the board passed a plan to freeze residential market values in 2025, switch to a two-year residential appraisal schedule and establish a 5% threshold for raising residential values in the future. Those changes were shepherded by three newly elected board members, who argued the district needed to do more to help homeowners.
School districts, however, quickly became concerned about the overarching consequences of the plan, including the potential for state funding cuts. The state comptroller’s office conducts a school district property value study every two years and compares the values it generates with those reported by the local appraisal district. If the local values are too different from the comptroller’s in a particular school district, that district is in line for funding cuts.
Tarrant’s residential property value freeze, combined with its biannual schedule, make it more likely that the local appraisal figures won’t match the state’s. A mock property value study conducted by appraisal staff flagged seven school districts at substantial risk of failing the state’s property value study.
In a Feb. 3 email, Bobbitt informed Aledo, Azle, Carroll, Castleberry, Everman, Grapevine-Colleyville and Fort Worth ISDs that they were in danger of failing, and said he was “recommending/requesting” the districts pass a resolution asking for reappraisal in their districts. As it stands, the reappraisal plan states that any reappraisal activities require approval from the appraisal district board.
Azle, Castleberry, Everman and Fort Worth ISDs passed resolutions requesting reappraisal. Carroll ISD’s board president, Cameron Bryan, released a statement indicating the district would not request a reappraisal, but would pursue a local value study audit if Carroll fails the state study.
District officials in Fort Worth, Castleberry warn of funding crisis
At the appraisal district board’s Feb. 26 meeting, Castleberry ISD officials pleaded with board members to reappraise properties in their boundaries. Renee Smith-Faulkner, the district superintendent, warned the district faces a severe funding crisis without adjusted values.
With no adjustment, Castleberry ISD stands to lose $3.5 million in state funding, with no grace period to make budgetary adjustments, she said. That’s nearly 8% of the district’s $46 million budget. The fiscal year for Castleberry, which enrolls more than 3,600 students, begins July 1.
Last year, the district eliminated 40 positions — amounting to nearly $4 million in budget cuts. Further reductions, she warned, would jeopardize early literacy programs, fine arts, athletics and its extended school year program. The summer school-like initiative was recently featured in the Texas Education Agency’s annual report for its impact on improving student outcomes.
“I urge the board to please reconsider and take action to accurately reappraise these properties that fall significantly below the comptroller’s property value study and ensure that our schools receive the necessary funding to continue,” Smith-Faulkner said.
Fort Worth ISD Chief Financial Officer Carmen Arrieta-Candelaria warned the board that if their property values are too low, the district could lose between $26 million and $51 million in state funding. That could potentially lead to program and staffing cuts for the 2026-27 school year, she told the Report. The district enrolls just under 70,000 students.
“So, I think that’s important, it’s state money that we’re losing,” she said. “We’d have to rethink what we’re doing.”
Tax consultant suggests policy change to soothe school districts
Chandler Crouch, a prominent tax consultant in Tarrant County and a vocal critic of the appraisal district’s previous leadership, told the board there is a simple solution to the dispute over the reappraisal plan.
“All we’ve got to do to help these guys accomplish the security that they need is to change one policy in that board manual, that (would) guarantee, if they’re out of compliance, they’ll get reappraised,” Crouch said. “The end. They stay home. Bills aren’t being filed. You guys get to be able to do the every-other-year appraisal.”
Crouch referenced a bill filed by Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, that would mandate annual appraisals — in effect making Tarrant’s biannual schedule illegal. That bill was filed, Crouch said, because of the real concern school districts have.
“These guys are in a real bad spot. The basic allotment has stayed the same since 2019,” Crouch said, referencing the state’s stagnant per-student funding. “This is the mechanism the state uses to control how much money they get to mess with.”
The appraisal district wouldn’t know until January 2026 — more than five months after 2025 tax rolls are certified — if any school district failed the state property value study.
The decision to call a work session came after board members recessed to an hour-long executive session at the Feb. 26 meeting, following the end of public comments.
Previously, board members had targeted their February meeting as the date to make a decision on the reappraisal plan. Property value notices are traditionally mailed out in April, meaning that the window to make any value changes is rapidly closing.
Emily Wolf is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at emily.wolf@fortworthreport.org or @_wolfemily
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @matthewsgroi1.
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