The McKinney ISD Board of Trustees has called for a special attendance credit election to be held May 2, 2020.

McKinney, Texas – At its Dec. 17 meeting, the McKinney ISD Board of Trustees authorized a special “attendance credit election” to be held on May 2 that calls upon the community to vote for or against the method by which it makes mandatory payments to the state.

In doing so, MISD joins six other Texas school districts, including Allen ISD and Little Elm ISD, in calling for a special election.

“This is a very important ballot measure that the district is bringing before the public,” said MISD Superintendent Dr. Rick McDaniel. “Because of that, I hope that everyone will take a few minutes to read the election information available on the MISD website as well as the materials the district will be providing as we get closer to election day—and then go out and vote on May 2.”

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The impetus for the election has its roots in the so-called Robin Hood law of 1993 in which Texas lawmakers established a system to take portions of state aid from property wealthy school districts and redistribute the funds to low property wealth districts.

The money that property wealthy districts pay back to the state under the Robin Hood law is known as “recapture.”

In 2014, the state identified McKinney ISD as a property wealthy district, and MISD has been making recapture payments since the 2014-2015 school year using a method known as “purchasing attendance credits”—the method used by every Texas school district required to pay recapture.

Until last year, an exemption allowed school districts to make recapture payments by purchasing attendance credits without holding a special election. In 2019, Texas House Bill 3 removed that exemption.

Now, the McKinney ISD community is called upon to cast their vote.

A vote “for” the measure will authorize the McKinney ISD Board of Trustees to purchase attendance credits from the state using local tax revenue as it has done since 2014–2015. A vote “against” will deny authorization for the board to purchase attendance credits and result in the state detaching property from McKinney ISD and annexing it to another district.

If the measure does not pass, the state is authorized to detach $2.3 billion (13.5 percent) of McKinney ISD’s $17 billion property tax base and send those tax dollars to another district—a change which could likely be permanent.

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That chain of events would impact future MISD finances. To compensate for the loss of revenue, the district would need to raise the Interest and Sinking (I&S) tax rate by approximately $0.066 in order to continue to service the district’s current debt schedule. For the average MISD single family home ($351,462), that translates to a tax increase of about $232 per year.

If voters approve the measure, the district will continue to make recapture payments to the state in the manner that it has for the past six years; approval has no impact on the amount of recapture paid by the district nor does it increase MISD taxes.

Early voting begins Monday, April 20, 2020, and election day is Saturday, May 2, 2020.

Polling Locations:

Collin County Elections Office
2010 Redbud Blvd. Ste 102, McKinney, TX 75069

Evans Middle School
6998 Eldorado Pkwy, McKinney, TX 75070

McKinney Fire Station #5
6600 Virginia Parkway, McKinney, TX 75070

Slaughter Elementary School
2706 Wolford Street, McKinney, TX 75071

Webb Elementary School
810 E. Louisiana Street, McKinney, TX 75069

Need Help?

If you need additional assistance with the content on this page, please contact MISD Communications Department team member Shane Mauldin by phone at 469-302-4007 or by email here .