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Frisco ISD will not get the school upgrades or tax rate hike for teacher raises that district officials asked voters to approve on this year’s ballot, according to unofficial final results.
The Frisco and Allen school districts proposed nearly $1.5 billion in bonds for this year’s election. Allen had more success and got voter approval on two of its bond proposals.
Since September 2000, Frisco ISD voters overwhelmingly supported the district’s previous five bond packages.
The district sought support when heated politics have made it harder to pass such bonds and after the Legislature has mandated that districts include the language “THIS IS A PROPERTY TAX INCREASE,” even if districts don’t need to change tax rates for a bond issuance. The Frisco school bonds would not result in a tax increase.
Collin County voters were mixed in their support for the school bonds.
McKinney resident Susan Gaston, 76, and her daughter Shannon Hammonds, 37, voted at the John and Judy Gay Library on the first day of early voting.
Hammond and Gaston said they supported Frisco ISD’s tax rate increase and the bond proposals, saying public schools aren’t properly funded by the state.
Gaston, however, said she did not vote for the new tennis center that Frisco ISD school officials said would allow the district to hold major tournaments.
“I voted for technology, and I voted for everything else,” Gaston said.
Husband and wife Richard and Anne Durham, who also cast ballots at the library during early voting, said they had different takes on the Allen school bond proposals.
Anne Durham supported the $447.5 million Allen ISD bond package, which included various renovations, safety upgrades and new technology. She said public schools should be better funded.
However, Richard said he did not understand some of the costs associated with proposition A, which included vehicle maintenance, HVAC and electrical repairs and foundation work.
“I’ve never heard of a school system that had to do a bond referendum for what is considered routine or facility maintenance,” Richard Durham said.
Unofficial final voting results showed voters didn’t want to raise Frisco ISD’s maintenance and operations tax rate by $0.0294, which would bring the overall rate to $1.0569 per $100 of assessed property valuation.
Nearly 57% of voters in Collin County rejected the tax rate increase. In Denton County, about 58.6% voters disapproved of the proposition.
When calculated with average property appraisals from the Collin Central Appraisal District, an analysis by The Dallas Morning News shows that the annual increase for a homeowner would be about $155. The average homeowner in Denton County would pay about $145 more in property taxes each year.
Frisco schools Superintendent Mike Waldrip has said the district faces escalating costs amid inflation as the district’s student population has plateaued. The tax rate increase was “the only thing that’s available” to the district to generate additional revenue, Waldrip has said.
The tax bump would have generated about $11 million to fund competitive teacher salaries, school officials said. Earlier this year, Frisco school trustees adopted a budget with a $30.8 million shortfall to fund 3% salary raises for teachers.
“We, like every other school district in the state, struggle to stay competitive with our peers in teacher pay,” Waldrip said in October.
Frisco ISD early voters rejected three bond proposals, the largest of which — proposition B — was a $986 million ask for district-wide campus upgrades, including a replacement campus for Staley Middle School. Officials had said they would repurpose the current building for special education programs.
The bulk of proposition B would have been spent on upgrades to 20 campuses that are at least 25 years in age as well as on HVAC and plumbing improvements across the district.
In Collin and Denton counties, proposition B was rejected by about 52% of voters, unofficial final vote results showed.
School officials sought $11.2 million to fund the new tennis center. That bond measure received the lowest amount of support of the proposals, according to early returns.
The new tennis center proposal got less than 30% approval in both Collin and Denton counties.
Voters across Texas have been more reluctant in recent years to approve millions for proposals that aren’t strictly academic, such as facilities for athletics.
Allen school officials asked voters to approve bond proposals for school and athletic improvements as well as major repairs for foundations, roofing and more. The bonds will not result in a tax increase, according to the district.
The package includes $419 million for improvements at two middle school campuses, four elementary schools and an early childhood school campus.
Unofficial final voting results showed about 56% of Collin County voters supported the campus improvements and about 53.4% supported the $23 million for technology upgrades.
However, money for athletics — including a new indoor practice space for students as well as new running tracks at Curtis Middle School and Lowery Freshman Center — fell short, with 48.2% approval, according to unofficial final voting results.