Financial Transparency
The GCISD trustees set the tax rates.
The amount in taxes paid to GCISD is determined by the tax rate multiplied by our property value. Thus, taxes can go up:
- if rates go up OR
- if property values go up.
There are two tax rates that comprise the total GCISD tax rate, which puts the money into two different buckets for GCISD to use.
- One bucket is for Maintenance and Operations, which covers salaries for teachers and administration.
- The other is the Debt Service bucket, which is used to pay back outstanding bonds for capital improvements.
Money collected in one bucket cannot be moved to the other bucket, so Debt Service money cannot be used for Maintenance and Operations.
Robin Hood is a Texas program which GCISD is required to pay into that takes money from the M&O Bucket. Because of this, it is more efficient to pay for capital improvement projects and equipment through bonds.
TAX savings & Bond use
balanced Budget Update (6.20.22)
Balanced Budget
For the first time in over 10 years, GCISD will be starting off the year with a balanced budget. This budget initiative was accomplished in coordination with district leadership and voted in by 4 of the 7 trustees (President Ford, Vice President Braun, Secretary Spradley, and member Nakamura).
Future Expenditures
Any additional expenditures for the year can be approved on an as-needed basis by the board. This allows the board to be flexible and focused with spending. It also allows for maximum transparency to taxpayers about expenditures.
Protecting our Financial Future
As our country heads into a recession, it is of the utmost importance that GCISD focuses its resources where we need it most -- in the classrooms. This means teacher pay and instructional materials. In accordance with this philosophy, the approved budget included another teacher pay raise to bring their salaries to a competitive market level.
GCISD Bond Program
-Blue is the Principal payment.
-Red is the Interest payment.
-The first year is 2020.
-It will take until 2041 to pay off our debt without new bonds.
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
Bond Timeline
- In 2016, GCISD voters passed a $248 million dollar bond.
- After the passing of the 2016 bond, the total bond debt for GCISD, including principal and interest, exceeded $760 million dollars (over ¾ of a billion dollars). This amount includes existing bonds we were already paying.
- In January of 2020, the total bond debt was $663 million dollars, including principal and interest.
- In June of 2021, the total bond debt was $576 million dollars, including principal and interest, with $390 million being Principal debt.
Debt
GCISD was $576,643,581 dollars in debt as of June 21, 2021.
This table is from the district's annual Budget Book for 2021-2022.
That budget was adopted June 21, 2021.
Tax Trend
Taxes Go Up
This graph shows the net taxable value history for GCISD since the 2017-2018 school year.
The Scores You're paying for
GCISD's STAAR Scores are "Above Average" for Texas
This graph shoes the percent of students who met or exceeded grade level expectations district-wide for all STAAR subjects, starting back in the 2017-2018 school year. All data derives from the district's annual TAPR numbers (Texas Academic Performance Report). Students did not take the STAAR in the 2020-2021 school year.