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Northwest ISD Peterson Elementary School teacher Stacey Kromer reads to students March 4. (Courtesy | Northwest ISD)
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Northwest ISD may soon be forced to cut programs and reduce teacher hiring.

Without additional funds, the district faces a $14 million deficit in its 2024-25 budget, Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Pastusek told trustees during a May 6 board meeting. Superintendent Mark Foust and board President Steve Sprowls aren’t confident that the Texas Legislature will provide those funds come 2025.

“Texas is sitting on a surplus of funds, and because (legislators) let the politics of private school vouchers get involved in the mix with public school funding, funding never got passed,” Sprowls said.

In a bid to overcome escalating financial challenges, Northwest ISD is considering placing a measure on the Nov. 5 ballot to increase the district’s property tax rate. If approved, the initiative would secure $15 million in additional funding, Pastusek said.

“Our goal is to continue providing excellent educational experiences and staff support without compromising our financial stability,” he said.

Northwest ISD officials are discussing raising one of two smaller rates that form the overall property tax:

The maintenance-and-operations tax rate funds day-to-day operations. 

The debt service rate pays off debt.

Pastusek told trustees that raising the maintenance-and-operations tax rate by 3 cents, creating a total tax rate of $1.1179, would help lift the district from its deficit.

Without the tax rate increase, the district would be forced to minimize hiring, increase class size ratios and look at programs to cut or reduce, Pastusek said. 

This year, Northwest ISD dipped into district reserve funds to pay for operating costs like staff salaries and utilities, he said. The district can’t afford to do that again, or the district’s fund balance would fall below the requirement set by the Texas Education Agency. 

As operating costs rise steadily due to inflation, state funding to the district has been stagnant since 2020, Pastusek said.

If the tax rate increase is approved, funds would primarily go toward compensating teachers and staff, Pastusek said. As operating costs rise elsewhere, the district has held off on giving sufficient pay raises to teachers, Pastusek said. 

The starting salary for a new teacher with no experience is $60,100.

“We can give our teachers a 2.5% raise or a 2% raise, but it puts us $15 million in the deficit,” Sprowls said. “If nothing changes … we’re going to have to make cuts.”

Another factor in play for district officials? The 3 cent tax raise Pastusek described is considered “golden pennies,” which refers to additional cents on the tax rate that a school district can levy beyond the state-compressed rate.

These golden pennies aren’t subject to recapture from the state. Recapture is a mechanism where districts deemed property-rich by the state must send back a portion of their local tax revenue to the state to support property-poor districts. The measure is often referred to as the Robin Hood law.

During the 2023-24 school year, Northwest ISD sent $19.5 million to the state under recapture. The district estimates to send nearly $7.5 million back to the state in its 2024-25 budget. If the rate increase is approved, all the tax revenue brought from it, or $15 million, would stay in the district.

If the board decides to proceed, the tax rate election will be placed on the November ballot, meaning the proposed tax rate would be applied for the 2025-26 school year. 

In 2023, the average home in Northwest ISD had an appraised value of $552,605, according to the district. However, only $420,208 of the value is used for taxes.

Using last year’s numbers as a reference, the average property tax bill to Northwest ISD would have been $4,697.50 with the approved tax bump — $126 higher than what the average homeowner paid in 2023. 

Northwest ISD’s current tax rate is at $1.0879. Under that, the average property tax bill to Northwest ISD was $4,571.44. 

“I just think it’s pathetic our state leaders … let politics get involved and now we’re here,” Sprowls said. “They have since passed the buck down to us, where we need to ask you as a homeowner to pay more property taxes.” 

Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @MatthewSgroi1 on X. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.