Area Comparisons
Remaining Competitive on Less Funding
Despite maintaining the lowest maintenance and operations tax rate in the state for a K-12 school district, Northwest ISD has remained competitive in teacher pay by directing funding to the classroom. As operations costs continue to rise, however, the district made the challenging decision to increase class sizes for the 2025-2026 school year to balance the district budget.
With limited per-student funding compared to area school districts, Northwest ISD would use a voter-approved operations funding election to remain competitive with area districts in class sizes, student programs and compensation. Northwest ISD aims to remain highly ranked in teacher compensation while continuing to offer award-winning academic and extracurricular programs.
Area Teacher Salaries
Among school districts in the western portion of the DFW region, Northwest ISD ranks near the top for teacher salaries. The chart below shows the top-ranking starting teacher salaries in the area. Districts not ranked among the top in area teacher pay are not listed.
| Starting Teacher Salaries | |
|---|---|
|
Mansfield ISD |
$64,700 |
|
Arlington ISD |
$64,600 |
|
Fort Worth ISD |
$63,000 |
|
Grand Prairie ISD |
$63,000 |
|
Birdville ISD |
$62,750 |
|
Irving ISD |
$62,618 |
|
Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD |
$62,500 |
|
Castleberry ISD |
$62,025 |
|
Everman ISD |
$62,000 |
|
Crowley ISD |
$61,810 |
|
Cleburne ISD |
$61,500 |
|
Northwest ISD |
$61,500 |
|
Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD |
$61,350 |
Data as of 2024-2025, per United Educators Association.
Area Per-Student Funding
Of the districts listed in the chart above, all receive more funding per student than Northwest ISD. Every district ranked among the area's leaders in teacher salaries has received voter approval of an operations funding election, with the exception of Northwest ISD and Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD. Both Northwest ISD and HEB ISD have called operations funding elections for this November. Northwest ISD receives nearly $1,000 less per student, or more than 10% of its per-student funding, than every school district ranked among area teacher pay leaders except for one.
| Average Funding Per Student | |
|---|---|
|
Everman ISD |
$12,952 |
|
Castleberry ISD |
$12,569 |
|
Fort Worth ISD |
$12,174 |
|
Arlington ISD |
$11,452 |
|
Crowley ISD |
$11,430 |
|
Birdville ISD |
$11,306 |
|
Grand Prairie ISD |
$11,298 |
|
Irving ISD |
$11,167 |
|
Cleburne ISD |
$11,133 |
|
Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD |
$10,735 |
|
Mansfield ISD |
$10,600 |
|
Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD |
$9,784 |
|
Northwest ISD |
$9,630 |
Data as of 2024-2025, per Texas Legislative Budget Board.
Area M&O Tax Rates
Among large school districts in the area, Northwest ISD maintains the lowest possible maintenance and operations tax rate. The district's tax rate is the lowest M&O tax rate for a K-12 school district in Texas. Many area school districts have received voter approval of operations funding increasing the tax rate beyond Northwest ISD's proposed 3-cent increase.
|
District |
2024 M&O Rate |
Voter-Approved |
|---|---|---|
|
Arlington ISD |
$0.8128 |
12 |
|
Birdville ISD |
$0.7869 |
12 |
|
Fort Worth ISD |
$0.7869 |
12 |
|
Mansfield ISD |
$0.7869 |
12 |
| Everman ISD | $0.7643 | 9.74 |
| Cleburne ISD | $0.7575 | 8.83 |
| Grand Prairie ISD | $0.7552 | 8.83 |
|
Keller ISD |
$0.7552 |
8.83 |
|
Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD |
$0.7492 |
8.23 |
|
Lewisville ISD |
$0.7469 |
8 |
|
Irving ISD |
$0.7179 |
5.1 |
| Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD | $0.6726 | 0 |
|
Northwest ISD |
$0.6669 |
0 |
Data as of 2024-2025, per public records.