New revenue will chip away at operating deficit, superintendent says
To outsiders, the Jayton- Girard Independent School District appears to be riding high.
A new on-site day care facility, enhanced campus security features, well-kept athletic fields and concession stand, and even a community swimming pool—all look comparable, at a proportionately smaller size, to any top-notch public-school campus in Texas.
But for the only school district in the state’s sixthleast- populous county, looks can be deceiving.
The district has long reaped the benefits of revenues from its public school lands in Dawson and Martin counties, where mineral wealth boomed unexpectedly. Those funds, explained school superintendent Layne Sheets, are limited to capital improvements only. That money can be dedicated to improving buildings or facilities, purchasing and upgrading faculty and staff residences, or new construction—but it can’t be used to keep the lights on or pay teachers.
Kent County voters demonstrated in last week’s election that by and large, they understood the dilemma. Of 310 total votes cast, 176 were in favor, 134 against. The measure proposed to raise taxes 1 cent from last year, to generate 24% more revenue.
Voters’ favorable decision, which will net the district approximately $266,000 in 2023, will help address an operating deficit of $776,000 last year, that might otherwise skyrocket to $900,000 in the coming year, as Sheets explained last month to the Kent County Lions Club.
Lions president Daryl Ham said at that gathering, “Your tax dollars are a commitment to future generations.”
Sheets explained that the district has had a healthy fund balance over the past several years, but the board wanted to preserve that rather than cutting into it, or to have to recalculate its operating budget.
“We can’t cut out $266,000 worth of pencils,” he said. Reducing staff positions or salaries, or programs, would likewise be unpalatable for a district that prides itself on academic and athletic achievement.
Sheets added, “It’s a tricky thing to understand, but that’s what we’re constantly trying to communicate. We can’t use those (permanent school lands) funds for operations. This isn’t more money for upgrading capital improvements.”
The county’s appraisal district had already billed for the tax inrease, so taxpayers will actually see that the amount as it affects them. Those receiving the homestead exemption for over-65 are not affected, and may even see their tax bills go down.
Further, said Sheets, “this will be it; we’ve maxed out. We wont’ be coming back next year” for another increase.
Sheets praised the district’s business manager, Laci Scogin, for doing a great job keeping on top of complex budget matters.
“Early on, once we tried to educate the community on what exactly they were voting on,” he said, “it was really overwhelmingly a positive response, but I think the challenge was just explaining to them what exactly we were doing. We still felt like it was a positive thing to do—the community is so supportive, if we could just get the facts to them, I thought we had a good chance. Any time you’re raising taxes, you have to acknowledge that the voters think about how that affects them individually. We don’t take for granted anything we do in setting the tax rate.”
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