During Monday night’s meeting of the Brownwood ISD Board of Trustees, a tax rate of $1.04 per $100 evaluation was proposed for the 2023-24 school year, which will be voted upon during a special meeting Aug. 24.
The $1.04 number is the same as this past school year, despite the passage of $59 million bond package in May for a variety of school improvements.
“Tonight we voted on the proposed tax rate and that tax rate will be the same rate as we had this past year and we’re excited to be able to do that even with the passage of the bond, which we anticipated could increase the tax rate by almost 10 cents,” said Brownwood ISD Superintendent Dr. Joe Young. “That was not necessary, so we were able to keep the tax rate the same as it was this year, and we’ll vote that the 24th.”
The maintenance tax will comprise $0.7137 while the interest and sinking fund makes up the remaining $0.3283. Last year’s rate of $1.04 featured $0.86340 for maintenance and operations and $0.17859 for the interest and sinking fund. The interest and sinking fund tax revenue is used to pay for bonded indebtedness on construction, equipment or both. The bonds and the tax rate necessary to pay those bonds were approved by the voters of the district. The total amount of outstanding and unpaid bonded indebtedness is $71,340,000.
The board also approved the district’s bond order authorizing the issuance of the District’s Unlimited Tax School Building Bonds, Series 2023, levying a continuing direct annual Ad Valorem Tax for the payment of the bonds and other matters in connection therewith.
Also during Monday night’s meeting, following executive session the board approved the hired of on campus guardians, armed personnel on all campuses by Sept. 1 as called for in the passage in Texas House Bill 3, and in lieu of enough Brownwood Police Department officers to fill the mandatory roles.
The CKED policy, as it it called, relates to the authorization of certain employees to possess firearms to address concerns about the effective and timely response to an emergency on District property, including the invasion of a school by an armed person who may pose a direct threat of physical harm to students or others.
Applications for security personnel are available at the BISD website, https://www.brownwoodisd.org/
Items passed on the consent agenda included:
- Updated T-TESS Appraiser List
- Teacher Appraisal Calendar
- Attorney Retainer
- Board Delegate
- Transportation Contract
- Adult Lunch Meal Prices
- HB 3033 Dates
- Student Code of Conduct
- District Improvement Goals
- Bank Depository Contract
- DOI Teacher Certifications
- Public Funds Investment Policy Resolutions
- Minutes from the June 20 Meeting