McKinney ISD Is The Third Fastest Growing School District

As many people know, the city of McKinney is the fastest growing city in the nation with populations greater than 50,000. McKinney ISD is the third fastest growing school district in the state, and we have reached the $2.00 tax cap mandated by the state.

Our tax rate consists of two components. The maintenance and operations portion of the tax rate is $1.50 and pays for most of the day-to-day activities of the district, including salaries and benefits, utilities and supplies. This portion of the tax rate is comparable to most other districts in the state. In fact, for the 2003-04 school year, 828 of the 1,031 districts in the State (more than 80%) were at or above a $1.40 rate. Per current state law, the district cannot exceed the $1.50 rate on the maintenance and operations portion of the tax rate. MISD has met the tax cap for the past two years.

The other portion of the tax rate is the debt service rate. This portion is used exclusively to pay the principal and interest on the district's outstanding bonds (long-term debt). For McKinney ISD, this portion of the tax rate is $0.50, the maximum rate allowed. As a result of the fast-growth, the District sold the maximum amount of bonds it could sell with a 50-cent tax rate this past summer and will likely continue this process annually to avoid having severely overcrowded campuses. Therefore, even though MISD continues to grow, the current funding formula creates restrictions that could cause classroom overcrowding and budget cuts that would impact the high quality of education expected by MISD patrons.

Additionally, over the past several years, the state’s share of funding for public education has significantly decreased, causing the local homeowner to share more of the cost of public education through property taxes. Currently, about 82 percent of the funding for McKinney ISD comes from the local property owner. In 2000, the local taxpayer contributed 73 percent of the funding, and in 1996, the local taxpayers contributed 63 percent.

In cooperation with the Coalition to Invest in Texas Public Schools, the McKinney ISD Board of Trustees has developed several principles that indicate the district’s stance on the school finance issue. MISD has developed the “Eye on the Legislature” section of the website to not only share the school board’s stance on school finance, but to also keep interested patrons informed of the actions of the Legislature and provide parents with a way to contact their elected officials on this issue. The “Eye on the Legislature” will also feature different websites that will help summarize the daily actions of our elected officials.

Contacts Regarding School Finance And The State Legislature