Houston Public School District board members voted to set the district’s proposed 2025 levy, approving a $364,951.93 reduction to the unequalized portion of long-term facility maintenance (LTFM) revenue and authorizing the district to use remaining levy authority to the maximum for 2025 payable 2026.

The action, moved and seconded during the meeting, sets a proposed rate that the district’s staff said would bring the rate to 0.674; last year’s final levy was 0.62. District staff said the proposed levy must be approved by Sept. 30 and the board will finalize the levy at a December meeting.

“We always do a reduction to LTFM revenue of the…it’s called the unequalized portion of the aid, or of the levy,” said Gwen, a district staff member. “So unequalized means there’s no aid component to it, to the revenue, and so it’s completely levied. And so we reduce it by that amount, and then we levy to the max.”

Gwen told the board that if the district levied completely to the maximum authority, proposed property tax statements would show an 18.7% increase. With the planned reduction in the unequalized LTFM portion, she said proposed tax statements would instead show an 8.7% increase. She also said the board will review the numbers again at a finance meeting and determine the final change at the December meeting.

A board member moved to “reduce long term facility maintenance revenue by $364,951.93 for the unequalized portion and then levy to the maximum for 2025 payable 2026 levy certification.” Mark seconded the motion, and the board approved it by voice vote; no roll call tally was recorded in the meeting transcript.

Board members and staff noted scheduling steps: the staff report said the proposed levy must be set by Sept. 30 and the district will adopt the final levy in December. One speaker referred to a December 6 “truth-in-taxation” meeting related to levy setting and another speaker noted the final adoption must occur by Dec. 28.

The board also mentioned upcoming finance and regular board meetings and community events, including homecoming activities, but no further substantive budget or levy items were discussed at length during this session.

The vote sets the district’s proposed levy posture for public notice and further review; the final tax rate and statements will be determined when the board adopts the levy later this year.