Arlington ISD trustees voted unanimously Aug. 21 to approve an agreement to purchase average-daily-attendance credits under Texas Education Code Chapter 49 to satisfy local access (recapture) obligations.

Interim Chief Financial Officer Noberta Rivas told the board that the purchase is an annual administrative action most districts use to comply with state recapture rules and that the board must submit intent and an agreement by Sept. 1. "This is an annual thing that Arlington ISD has to do," Rivas said when explaining the timeline and why most districts choose Option 3, the attendance-credit purchase.

Why this matters: Chapter 49 recapture requires districts whose local tax collections exceed state entitlement formulas to pay back funds. Rivas explained the recapture calculation uses "tiered" pennies (basic allotment/tier 1, golden pennies, copper pennies) and that Arlington ISD has been subject to recapture on the copper portion. She said the district budget originally anticipated $8 million in recapture before the 2025 legislative changes to the homestead exemption; with the homestead exemption raised to $140,000, she estimated the district's near-final recapture will be about $4'4.5 million, with final numbers to follow when the tax roll and student counts are finalized in October.

Board action and motion: Trustee Haynes moved the motion to delegate contractual authority to obligate the district under TEC 48.257 and Chapter 49 to the superintendent and to approve the attendance-credit agreement; Trustee Mike seconded. "All trustees voting in the affirmative, the motion unanimously carries," the president announced.

Details: Rivas walked the board through the timeline: the district was notified July 15, must submit intent and an agreement by Sept. 1, will report payments to the appraisal district in January, and will know a near-final recapture amount in September of the following year as collections and student counts reconcile. The presentation included a historical context showing recapture totals fluctuate with property values and state homestead exemptions.

Next steps: Administration will execute the attendance-credit agreement and return final numbers when tax rolls and collections are available. The board authorized the superintendent to finalize contracts necessary to obligate the district under the cited Texas Education Code provisions.