Del Valle ISD officials recommend voter‑approved tax rate to close $7.5M shortfall

Board President opened the meeting by honoring Olga Lopez as the district’s Texas nominee for the 2026 NEA Education Support Professional of the Year before the board moved on to budget items. Ms. Edgar, the district budget lead, told trustees the early 2026–27 forecast assumes average daily attendance of about 10,533 and certified property values near $17.1 billion. Projected revenue was $137.4 million against projected expenditures of $145.0 million, driven by approximately $127.5 million in salaries, leaving a current projected deficit of roughly $7.5 million.

Ms. Edgar warned that several recent revenue sources that temporarily bolstered the budget have now ended and called those fixes a delay rather than a solution. She outlined balancing strategies under consideration, including improved attendance (ADA) recovery, efficiency audits, hiring freezes and attrition, shifting eligible costs to grant funds, use of fund balance, and a voter‑approved tax‑rate election (VADER). She said the district’s commercial‑heavy tax base (about two‑thirds commercial and industrial) means additional pennies on the tax rate would disproportionately fall on commercial property and outside investors rather than homesteaded homeowners.

Using modeling slides, Ms. Edgar showed what each additional penny could yield in revenue and estimated the fiscal impact on the average homeowner. In her presentation she said one modeling scenario would yield about $13.6 million in additional recurring general‑fund revenue and estimated a cost to the average homeowner of about $218 annually (about $13 per month); she recommended pursuing the scenario she labeled Scenario 1 (an overall increase she summarized as $0.06 to raise recurring revenue). She also noted the district is planning for the opening of North Del Valle High School and that new permanent costs make one‑time stopgap measures unsustainable.

Ms. Edgar outlined a tight calendar if the board pursues a VADER: adopt the budget in June, wait for certified property values (typically available around July 25), adopt tax rates at the Aug. 4 meeting and order the election before Aug. 17 for a Nov. 3 general‑election ballot. She said the district believes it may be exempt from the normal efficiency‑audit requirement because Travis County was included in a severe‑weather proclamation, but she said she would confirm that exemption.

Trustees asked several clarifying questions: how the board’s adopted rate relates to the rate sent to voters; whether district modeling numbers were consistent across slides (a trustee pointed out apparent inconsistencies between page figures); what a spending plan for any approved proceeds would look like; and whether the district could phase any increases to protect residents. Ms. Edgar said she would provide a spending timeline and more explicit reconciliations of the slide figures and recommended setting aside a portion of any new revenue to support the new high school.

The presentation and trustees’ questions closed with a request for follow‑up: trustees asked staff to return with clarified tables, a plan for how additional revenue would be allocated, and confirmation of the auditing timeline and any statutory constraints before the board takes further action.