Kilgore Independent School District trustees on Tuesday approved a $43,010,007.19 budget for fiscal year 2025–26, set a combined school tax rate of $1.155 and authorized a special election to ratify a voter-approval tax rate. The board voted 7–0 on the budget, on the tax rate and on the order calling the special election. Trish Hall, a district staff member presenting the budget, told trustees the district’s payroll accounts for about $31,000,000 — roughly 72.5 percent of total spending.

Why it matters: The tax-rate decision will trigger a voter-approval election because the proposed maintenance and operations (M&O) component of 0.7169 exceeds the voter-approval threshold; the district also set 0.4382 for debt service. District leaders said the voter-approval election and the rate are intended to help the district offset inflationary operating costs, maintain scheduled maintenance and maximize state funding under Texas Education Agency rules on tax compression.

Trustees were presented a package of disclosures required for the general-fund budget. Hall said the proposed budget includes roughly $51,000 in designated funds for at‑risk students, about $1,200 budgeted for required newspaper publication notices, and about $6,250 that might be used for entities where lobbying occurs. Hall told the board the school nutrition fund is balanced and that free breakfast and lunch for all students will continue in 2025–26.

Details: The district’s budget documents shown to the board break expenditures down by object codes and functions. The payroll line was listed at about $31,000,000. The presentation listed debt service funding of about $7,800,000. The proposed combined tax rate of $1.155 consists of a 0.7169 M&O rate and a 0.4382 debt-service rate. Officials said the proposed rate represents a tax increase and would increase M&O tax collections by about 7.34 percent compared with last year.

Formal actions taken: Trustee Tritt moved to approve the 2025–26 Kilgore ISD budget “as presented”; Trustee Harrington seconded. The motion passed 7–0. Later, the board adopted the property tax rate of $1.155 (0.7169 M&O; 0.4382 debt service); the board recorded the tax-rate action as a tax increase and voted 7–0. The board also approved an order calling a special election to ratify the voter-approval tax rate; that motion likewise passed 7–0.

Discussion versus decision: Much of the discussion before the votes was explanatory: Hall walked trustees through revenue drivers (enrollment, attendance, local/state/federal sources including E‑Rate) and required budget disclosures. Trustees thanked staff for the clarity of the presentation; the formal decisions recorded were adoption of the budget, adoption of the tax rate, and authorization of the special election. No amendments to the budget or tax-rate motion were proposed on the floor.

What remains: The board authorized staff to proceed with actions needed to hold the special election and to implement the adopted 2025–26 budget and tax rate. The timeline and ballot language for the election were not detailed during the public conversation recorded in the meeting minutes.