Austin ISD Property Tax Rate Increase - Could the timing be any worse?

What is everyone's chief concern these days? Isn't it the economy and jobs, and elections and taxes? The editorial section of the Austin American Statesman has a related article titled "Austin school district tax increase: Voters should approve pay raises for teachers."

Though the title includes the part of raising teachers' compensation, the "Austin Independent School District Tax Ratification Election Proposition No. 1" does not include any language related to the pay raises that will be given to teachers provided that voters approve it. The article is targeted towards citizens of Austin who will be voting this November (or probably earlier, during the early voting period). The editor recommends to the voters to approve this proposition, and provides a number of reasons for doing so.

Firstly, the teacher pay in Austin has not kept pace with inflation. All the surrounding school districts have been more effective in hiring the best teachers by giving them better pay packages. Second, the school district has limited their spending to bare necessities due to lack of funding. Even then, this year’s budget drew $21.8 million from the $128 million fund balance to minimize burden on tax payers. If this continues for a few more years, the fund balance will soon deplete.

In addition to the above two arguments, the editor also notes that not all property tax revenue goes directly to the school district. The editor provides the example where more than 86% of the property tax revenue would directly go to the state under Texas’ school financing law. Therefore, even with the additional monies coming in, very little would directly go to Austin ISD. However, the editor does not provide any facts on whether the revenue collected by the state is redistributed to the school districts or not.

The editor puts forward several important factors in advocating in favor of the proposition. But with the current economic slowdown and job losses, it might not have as good a chance to be passed. Also, voters would be concerned whether the tax rate increase would directly help teachers’ pay raises or not?