NISD calls for TAD to protect school funding

As the Tarrant Appraisal District Board of Directors considered a new reappraisal process, school districts across Tarrant County engaged in good-faith dialogue with TAD to explain how these changes would lead to millions of dollars in reduced funding for schools. Northwest ISD is disheartened that despite these conversations, the TAD board has adopted a plan that will devastate school district budgets, leading to reduced services for children across the county.

After the proposal to end annual appraisals of residential property and freeze current property values was announced on July 22, Tarrant County school district leaders quickly informed TAD how the plan would dramatically reduce funding to schools. Despite this information, the TAD board moved forward with its plan and declined to work with school districts to create compromise. Following an initial meeting with school districts, the TAD board set a vote for the plan at its August 9 meeting. For almost three hours at this meeting, the TAD board heard testimony from more than a dozen local school board members, chief financial officers and superintendents representing Tarrant County public schools. School officials again informed the TAD board how its decision would cause irreparable harm to the services provided to local children, and they provided potential solutions to both fund schools and help reduce taxes.

The message from local school districts remains clear: the now-approved reappraisal plan will have serious consequences for local education, leading to multiple districts each losing up to $15 million in funding from the state annually. Specifically, Northwest ISD projects to lose up to $10 million annually. This loss in funding is in addition to deficit budgets school districts across Texas have passed because of a lack of legislative action at the state level and an outdated public education funding model. Throughout conversation with the TAD board, its members displayed little regard for how their actions would harm children. Eric Morris motioned to remove any provision that might protect school districts, and Callie Rigney chastised board members who appeared sympathetic to how the reappraisal plan would negatively impact Tarrant County public school students.

The long-term outcome of this decision will actually harm taxpayers, by delaying and stacking – not eliminating – tax burdens. Additionally, the TAD board’s new appraisal process will cause many school districts to raise their I&S tax rates to pay off bond debt simply to complete projects already approved by voters as Tarrant County property values going forward will be artificially frozen. Tarrant County residential homeowners’ tax bills will likely be higher over a three-year period with this new reappraisal plan in place, while school district budgets stand to suffer the strain of reduced state funding. As a result, districts will have to cut teachers or further reduce academic or extracurricular programs, decreasing opportunities for students.

In light of the TAD board’s decision, we cannot help but feel immense sadness for the children of Tarrant County. The future of hundreds of thousands of school children will be negatively impacted by this decision that ignores the harm to our local communities just to keep a short-sighted and uninformed political promise. We urge the TAD board to reverse its decision and revise the reappraisal plan to include protections for school districts.