Dear Vega ISD Community:
We are so excited to welcome our students back to school for the 2024-2025 school year! This will be a fantastic school year and we are so glad to have everyone here in Vega ISD!
Thank you to everyone who attended last week’s Open Houses for Meet the Teacher, Title 1 Parent Meeting/GT & Dyslexia Parent Meetings and Meet the Longhorns. We had a great turnout for all of these events.
We are also so appreciative of our school board who provided and cooked breakfast burritos for our staff on Tuesday morning. The volleyball team went to Friona over the weekend to scrimmage Denver City and Friona before opening up the season this week. The volleyball team will also participate in the Dimmitt tournament this week and will have several games under their belt as the season begins. The football team will host West Texas this Friday in a scrimmage as well. We are looking forward to seeing our students in action this fall semester.
Our district, similar to many districts in our region and across the state, has experienced a deficit budget over the past several years. This has resulted from several factors including: lower student enrollment, the extraordinary cost of inflation for goods and services that are beyond the district’s control (i.e., electricity & insurance), and since 2019 no changes by the state legislature in the basic allotment provided by the state to support public schools.
Many school districts across the state have called for a VATRE (Voter Approved Tax Ratification Election) as a result of a lack of increased funding from the state that matches inflation and provides for increasing costs of goods and services. Many more school districts are considering calling for a VATRE for this upcoming election cycle. A VATRE allows a school district to ask voters for permission to adopt a tax rate that exceeds the district’s state-calculated maximum compressed tax rate (MCR). This additional revenue can be used to fund critical needs for the maintenance and operation of the district, including the ability to provide the enriching educational opportunities found in Vega ISD.
To this end, our school board has adopted a proposed tax rate of $1.3555 ($0.8555 for Maintenance & Operations & $0.50 for Interest & Sinking) to utilize enrichment pennies in our effort to continue to provide exceptional learning opportunities for our students. The reality is that Vega ISD is providing enrichment experiences for our students without taxing the enrichment pennies allowed by the state. In order for the district to be able to continue providing this type of service, we must access these enrichment pennies. In order to do so, the district must ask voters for permission to exceed the district’s state-calculated maximum compressed tax rate (MCR) through enrichment pennies through a Voter Approved Tax Ratification Election (VATRE) in August. To do this the School Board would adopt the proposed tax rate at the August 19, 2024 board meeting and then at the same meeting call for a VATRE election to be held in November for the voters to decide.
The revenue generated from an approved VATRE would contribute over $500,000 to the district’s revenue. In the absence of state funding in response to the increasing cost of doing business, an approved VATRE would go a long way toward closing the deficit. The proposed budget, with an approved VATRE, would make tremendous progress from the budget deficit of -$786,445 from the 2023-2024 adopted budget.
If the School Board calls for a VATRE, one advantage for tax payers for approving a VATRE in November would be some savings as a result of the increased Homestead Exemption taxable value to $100,000. If the VATRE were to pass, a home valued at $200,000 after the Homestead Exemption would have a taxable value of $100,000 which would increase the property tax as a result of an approved VATRE by $120 per year. Similarly, a home valued at $300,000 after the Homestead Exemption would have a taxable value of $200,000, which would increase the property tax as a result of an approved VATRE by $240 per year.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I would be glad to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you,
Jerry Adams
Superintendent, Vega ISD