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Waxahachie ISD keeps tax rate flat, approves balanced 2025–26 budget
Summary
The Waxahachie ISD Board of Trustees adopted a flat maintenance and operations and interest and sinking tax rate and approved operating budgets for 2025–26, projecting roughly $128.4 million in general fund revenue and a small general-fund surplus; the board voted 5–0 on both measures.
The Waxahachie Independent School District Board of Trustees on Sept. 8 adopted a flat maintenance-and-operations tax rate of 0.7552 and an interest-and-sinking rate of 0.4129 per $100 of valuation — a combined rate of $1.1681 — and approved the district's 2025–26 operating budgets for the general, debt service and child nutrition funds.
Chief Finance Officer Ryan Collin told the board the general fund budget shows roughly $128.4 million in revenues and $128.3 million in expenditures, producing a projected surplus of about $120,000. The board approved the measures unanimously, 5–0.
Collin said the district began budget work in January, received certified property-value estimates as required by law in late April and final taxable values July 25. He said the district is budgeting conservatively on enrollment: a demographer estimate projects total enrollment at 11,617 for 2025–26, but actual enrollment at the time of the meeting was just under 11,200. Collin said budgeting assumes 95% attendance to estimate state funding.
The debt service fund is budgeted with about $40.8 million in revenues and $42.0 million in expenditures, producing an anticipated $1.2 million draw on the I&S fund balance. Collin said the district has about $16 million in the debt service fund balance and an outstanding principal of approximately $779 million following bond issuances in 2023–25; he said the district issued additional bonds this summer to take advantage of state hold-harmless provisions tied to changes in the homestead exemption.
Child nutrition is budgeted as balanced at roughly $5.9 million in both revenues and expenditures, Collin said, noting participation and food costs could change that figure.
The budget presentation included compensation highlights that have already been approved as part of the compensation plan: an increase in starting teacher pay from $54,006 to $57,000, a 5% increase for staff on auxiliary/clerical/paraprofessional/professional pay scales and a 3% increase for administrative pay scales. Collin described the starting-pay figure as a corrected value after a previous typo and characterized the plan as a district-wide increase for staff.
Votes at a glance - Adopt M&O and I&S tax rates for 2025: motion by Mister Pitts, second by Mister Timmerman; outcome: approved 5–0. - Adopt 2025–26 operating budgets (general, debt service, child nutrition): motion by Missus Timmerman, second by Mister McCutcheon; outcome: approved 5–0.
Why it matters: The votes set the district's fiscal framework for 2025–26, including salary commitments and the planned use of fund balance in the debt service fund. Trustees and staff framed the debt issuance this year as a short-term draw to benefit from state protections tied to the homestead-exemption changes passed in recent legislative sessions.
