Election Result Will Let Fayetteville ISD Keep Extra $230,000 Annually

Fayetteville ISD held a voter approval tax rate election (VATRE) on Tuesday, and it passed with 69.38 percent of the vote. The vote count was 324 in favor and 143 opposed.

Normally, school districts hold a VATRE when they want to raise property taxes beyond the limits set by state law. The tax rate for Fayetteville ISD was going to go down by 12 cents regardless of how the vote turned out.

But in this case, the school board called the election because they wanted to dedicate three cents of the tax rate as so-called “golden pennies,” which are not subject to state recapture or tax rate compression. The move will provide the district with an estimated $230,000 annually for maintenance and operations.

“We’re thrilled to death to see the outcome and the amount of support the community continues to show the district,” said Fayetteville Superintendent Dr. Jeff Harvey. “I think it says a lot about the community. We couldn’t be more proud.”

Harvey said the extra funding will help the district remain competitive with teacher salaries.

“That’s always first and foremost,” Harvey said. “We want to have the absolute best teachers we can have in the classroom.”

In addition, Harvey said the district would like to refurbish its playground equipment for younger students. He said the playground hasn’t been updated in 25 years. He said the district also wants to explore ways to expand its agriculture program.

“Our ag program has grown,” he said. “We have two teachers now for our ag program. We want to do some things for those kids so that program grows.”

Looking ahead, Harvey said the additional funding may allow the district to build a multi-use outdoor facility for tennis, pickleball and recreational basketball.

“We have tennis teams, but we don’t have a tennis court anywhere in town,” Harvey said. “That’s a possibility somewhere down the road. We’d like to maybe have tennis courts with pickleball and outdoor basketball.”

Harvey said these courts would be available to community members when not in use by the school.

“We’re community-oriented,” he said. “The community supports us and we try to support the community.”