Laura Jackson, Ph.D.

The Texas school finance system has long been a source of confusion, and often frustration. It’s been called “Byzantine,” “a Rube Goldberg Machine,” and “a tangle of wire” — by the very lawmakers who legislate it and the judges tasked with ruling on its constitutionality.

If even the experts throw up their hands in exasperation, what chance does the average voter have of understanding it, let alone making critical decisions about it at the ballot box? Yet that’s exactly what thousands of Texans were asked to do this past November, as school districts across the state placed Voter-Approved Tax Rate Elections (VATREs) before their communities.

For many voters, VATREs came as a surprise. The ballot language was dense, the stakes were high, and the implications — well, those were often unclear. If you left the voting booth scratching your head about what you just voted on, you weren’t alone.

• To understand VATREs, it helps to break down the basics of school funding in Texas. A school district’s property tax rate has two parts: Maintenance & Operations (M&O) and Interest & Sinking (I&S). The M&O rate funds the everyday essentials — think teacher salaries, electricity, classroom supplies — while the I&S rate pays for long-term projects like school construction and facility maintenance. Most Texans are familiar with voting on school bonds, which directly affect the I&S rate. VATREs, however, are tied to the M&O rate.

Here’s where it gets tricky. Under Texas law, school districts have a maximum property tax rate they can impose without voter approval. But when funding falls short, districts can hold VATREs to ask voters for permission to raise additional funds. Contrary to popular belief, a VATRE doesn’t always mean a higher tax bill for homeowners. In some cases, districts lower the I&S tax rate to offset increases in the M&O rate, keeping overall taxes flat.

So why are districts asking for more money? It boils down to two major challenges: funding shortfalls and inflation. Some school leaders claim state funding formulas, based on student enrollment and other metrics, have failed to keep up with the actual cost of running schools. Teacher salaries, technology needs, and infrastructure upgrades have outpaced the dollars coming in. At the same time, inflation has driven up the cost of everything from fuel for buses to basic classroom supplies.

So, how did the school districts that placed VATREs on the ballot fare on November 5? The state doesn’t track this information, but we reached out to elections officials in East Texas (Texas Education Agency [TEA] Region 5) and the DFW area (TEA Regions 10 and 11) for results.

In East Texas, only two districts — Tatum ISD and Brownsboro ISD — held VATRE elections. In the DFW area, 13 school districts held VATREs, but only three of them passed. For districts whose measures failed, the repercussions are already being felt. Some DFW districts have already made painful decisions to close schools and cut programs. Others, even without immediate cuts, are struggling to attract and retain qualified teachers.

School funding is set to take center stage in the 2025 legislative session, but the road ahead is uncertain. Much of this past election cycle focused on establishing a school choice/voucher program, and there is an ongoing discussion to shift away from local property taxes as the primary funding source for public education overall.

If reforms succeed, VATREs may one day become a relic of the past. But for now, voters should make sure they understand what they are being asked to vote on and what the stakes may be for their community if the proposition passes or fails. VATREs may not simply be about a tax rate but could represent the ability of your local school to remain open.

Disclaimer: This is a very simplified explanation of Texas school finance — if we included golden pennies, copper pennies, or recapture, we’d all need a flowchart and a strong cup of coffee!