<\/span>Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Donald Earl, who said he has been homeless for eight years, adjusts a voting sign as he stands with his belongings outside a voting location at the Terrazas Branch Library on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. Austin voters are deciding on Proposition Q, a property tax rate increase that would, in part, fund $20.4 million for up to 350 new rapid rehousing units and expanded emergency shelter beds and services for people experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n <\/span>Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Two other Central Texas school districts \u2014 Liberty Hill and Taylor \u2014 approved higher tax rates Tuesday to help fund maintenance and operations costs as districts increase salaries and grapple with rising utility and fuel expenses.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n However, the Hays district\u00a0is one of three\u00a0in Central Texas<\/a> \u2014 along with Blanco and Coupland \u2014 where voters rejected higher tax rates.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Hays\u00a0district officials said the proposed tax rate increase was needed to prevent staff reductions, keep class sizes from growing, and restore the district\u2019s fund balance, which has fallen from $67.5 million in 2020 to $20 million this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Even if Hays\u2019 higher rate of $1.2746 per $100 of property valuation would have passed, property tax bills <\/strong>were not expected to rise for the owner of an average home in Hays County. For a home valued at $370,000, the owner would have seen their tax bill decrease by about $275 with the higher rate; without it, the average bill will drop by roughly $538.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n Voters in the Liberty Hill district approved a 7-cent increase per $100 of property valuation, after rejecting a similar measure in 2024. About 53.6% of voters backed the measure, according to complete but unofficial results.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The rate increase will generate about $10.9 million for student programming, staff salaries, utilities and safety. District officials said Liberty Hill has already cut $10 million from its budget over the past two years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Taylor school district voters approved a tax rate of $1.0638 per $100 of valuation, which will bring in an additional $650,000 for classroom instruction, career and technical education, and other student programs. That rate is 4 cents lower than last year\u2019s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n About 59.6% of voters supported the measure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Blanco school district voters rejected a 2-cent rate increase that would have generated\u00a0<\/strong>about $500,000 annually for teacher pay and helped maintain class sizes. Officials have projected an operating fund gap of about $550,000, which could lead to cuts in student programming without the higher rate of $0.878 per $100 of property value.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n About 52.5% of voters opposed the measure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Coupland school district voters also turned down a 3-cent tax rate increase, which would have generated $241,000 in annual revenue to operate the district\u2019s second campus. The measure failed with 55.8% of the 260 voters opposed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Under state law, tax rate elections allow school districts to seek voter approval to set a rate higher than the school board can adopt on its own. These elections determine the maintenance and operations tax rate, which funds core expenses such as teacher salaries, classroom programs and building upkeep.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In 2024, voters in the\u00a0Austin<\/a>, Manor and San Marcos districts approved higher tax rates, while similar proposals in the Coupland, Liberty Hill, Marble Falls and Seguin districts failed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A voter makes selections at a polling location at Randalls on Brodie Lane in Austin, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. Early voting continues through Friday. Texas voters will decide on 17 proposed amendments to the state constitution, including a package of billions of dollars in property tax cuts approved by state lawmakers earlier this year. Austin … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Central-Texas-voters-reject-three-approve-two-school-district-tax.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8753"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8755,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8753\/revisions\/8755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/div>\n
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Liberty Hill ISD: Approved<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Taylor ISD: Approved<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Blanco ISD: Rejected<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Coupland ISD: Rejected<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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