The Liberty Hill Independent School District is asking voters to weigh in on a proposed tax rate increase on Nov. 4. If passed, the measure, which appears on the ballot as Proposition A, would generate an additional $10.7 million in tax revenue for the 2025-26 school year.
That would be a big deal for the fast-growing school district, which has had to cut approximately $10 million from its budget over the past couple of years due to funding constraints and a failed tax ratification election in 2024.
"The reality is that budget cuts over the last two years reduced student program opportunities and increased the burden on our teachers and staff," Liberty Hill ISD Interim Superintendent Travis Motal said in a statement. "Prop A is about restoring what was lost — programs, resources, and staffing — so that we can deliver the level of education that meets Liberty Hill ISD’s vision of building champions in academics, character and community."
The additional revenue, school district officials said, would be used to help pay for the district's day-to-day operations, including teacher and staff salaries, student programming, classroom support and safety measures.
It is not a bond election that would fund buildings, major maintenance and land.
The school district is proposing a tax rate of $1.24 per $100 of home valuation. For a median-valued home within the school district's boundaries, that would mean an additional $29 per month, or $348 per year, in school taxes.
The rate is about thirty cents less than it was during the 2018-19 school year, said the district's Chief Financial Officer Rosanna Guerrero.
Guerrero also said some homeowners may not see an increase at all because of Williamson County's "homestead cap." The cap ensures a home's taxable value does not increase by more than 10% each year.
"What we have found is that there's people in Liberty Hill that taxes are actually going down because the value didn't go up the full 10 percent," Guerrero said. "Even with the higher tax rate, their overall taxes are going down."
Some homeowners may also be eligible for a homestead exemption. These exemptions help determine how much of a home's property value can be taxed to pay for public schools.
Still, the proposed increase is too much for Jacque Frame, who is a parent to a third grader in the district. She said she intends to vote "no" on Proposition A.
"I'm worried this will keep pushing Liberty Hill towards becoming a place only the wealthy can afford, instead of the diverse, salt-of-the-earth town it's always been," she said.
Frame said she's also worried about the precedent a tax increase would set.
"Once tax hikes become the default solution, it opens the door for more increases down the road," Frame said. "At some point, we have to stop and ask where the accountability is and how much more our residents can realistically carry."
How would the additional funds from Prop A be used?
Approximately $7.2 million of the additional tax revenue would be invested in student programs and staffing. That includes bringing back 70 teaching and paraprofessional positions that were cut last year.
"Our librarians are teaching STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics], so instead of opening the library for checking out books, our librarians at the elementary level are now teaching every day," Guerrero said.
She said librarians are also helping implement the district's gifted and talented curriculum at the elementary level.
"We went from having a GT [Gifted and Talented] teacher on every campus to now having two district wide," she said.
Class sizes increased following staff cuts last year and teachers are feeling the effects, teacher Haika Karr said at a panel discussion about the ballot measure put on by The Liberty Hill Independent newspaper.
"Our class sizes are larger," she said. "More students take more time and we have less time, and I'm gonna say that is high stress environment."
Guerrero said the district would also invest in 25 additional operational and support staff positions, including bus drivers.
She said the goal is to better the district for current students and accommodate for growth.
The district's enrollment has increased by 101.6% over the past five years and has showed no signs slowing down, Guerrero said. Much of that growth is due to the construction of nearby homes and subdivisions.
"You might have heard school districts around us that are actually lowering in enrollment ... not as growing as much," she said. "We are definitely not in that same boat."
Approximately $1.3 million of the additional tax revenue would be invested into safety and security.
Guerrero said the state currently provides Liberty Hill ISD nearly $600,000 a year to pay school resource officers and implement various safety and security measures. The actual cost, however, exceeds $1.9 million. Proposition A would help fill that gap, she said.
Teachers recently received a seven to 10% raise as a result of the passage of House Bill 2 earlier this year. Approximately, $2.2 million of the tax revenue from Proposition A, Guerrero said, would fund an additional 1%raise for all employees and a one-time retention bonus for employees hired before Sept. 30 of this year.
Guerrero said Liberty Hill ISD is also currently conducting an external audit of all of its positions and pay grades.
"We know that we are one of the lowest paid districts in our surrounding area. Teachers can literally go next door to surrounding school districts and get $3,800 to $4,000 more in their salaries," she said. "So we need to remain competitive."
Frame said she shares concerns about teacher retention, but that it "has as much to do with culture, support, and manageable workloads as it does with pay."
What happens if Prop A fails?
If Proposition A fails, Liberty Hill ISD officials said the district will likely have to cut an additional $3 million from its budget this spring.
Possible cuts include not opening Legacy Ranch Middle School or Lariat Trails Elementary in 2026. The district is also looking at reducing transportation routes, increasing class sizes and sharing campus staff such as school resource officers, nurses and counselors.
"That would really be unfortunate, in my view," said Albert Kennedy, a parent of second grader. "If they spend all this bond money and build this beautiful new elementary school, this beautiful new middle school, and then it's set to open and they don't have the maintenance and operations funds to run them."
To bring in additional revenue, the district said it might charge higher facility rental fees and require students to pay to participate in extracurricular activities.
The the district's fund balance, or savings account, has also dropped to $13 million — nearly half of what it should be, Guerrero said.
If Proposition A fails, Guerrero said it's likely the district will have to take out loans and go into debt to continue operating. She said the district just finished paying off operational loan debt from more than 10 years ago.
Kennedy said all of that information makes the choice clear to him; he intends to vote "yes" on Proposition A.
"It's the one thing that local districts can do to provide additional funds to their school districts, and there have been other districts around the Austin metro that have done that, but Liberty Hill ISD has not yet done that," he said. "To ensure that they get the funding they need for great education and to be competitive with the districts that have done that, it's, in my opinion, vital — this VATRE, this year."
