Fayetteville ISD Prop. Fails by 23 Votes
Voters in the Fayetteville I.S.D narrowly rejected the district’s Voter-Approval Tax Ratification Election (VATRE). The vote was 211 in favor (47.42%) and 234 against (52.58%).
“Obviously we’re disappointed, but I don’t think it’s indicative of the support we have here locally from our community,” said Fayetteville Superintendent Dr. Jeff Harvey. “We have a lot of support in the community. We just needed to do a better job of getting the information out there. Lessons learned - we’ve been through this before. We had a bond fail in 2013, and it took some time but we were able to get it passed in 2016 with pretty much the same bond. It’s just a matter of making sure everyone understands what we’re seeking.”
The district asked voters to approve a three cent increase to the property tax rate for
maintenance and operations to offset the increasing cost of education. It would have generated an extra $180,000 for the district over the current level of funding. If it had passed, Harvey said, property owners would have still seen some savings in their tax bill due to an upcoming cut in the district’s debt service tax rate, along with the upcoming increase to the homestead exemption.
“We’re going to get back up and continue educating kids,” Harvey said. “We’re not going to skip a beat.”
Harvey said Fayetteville I.S.D. will be able to manage without the extra tax revenue.
“We had plans to make sure our teachers were welltaken care of,” he said. “But at the same time, you don’t ever bet on something that’s not a sure thing.
“We will be OK,” he added. “We have to purchase a bus, and we’ve got some money in our fund balance to do that. But to sustain teacher raises and staff raises down the line, if the Legislature doesn’t do their part, it’ll be hard to look at. But it’s going to be that way for every school district in the state.”
Harvey said the district may ask voters again to consider the tax increase in a future election.
“If it was important enough to do it this time, why wouldn’t it be important to do it again?” he said. “I would fully expect to do it again, whether that will be in May or next November, that will be a board decision. I’m interested to see what the Legislature does with this fourth special called session. I give very little faith in what they’re going to do. Fayetteville I.S.D. has long-relied on our parents and community members to support the school. We have faith our fold will come through, and they always have. This is just a little bump in the road.”