SOCORRO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — The Socorro Independent School District is addressing the district's failed Proposition A on Wednesday.
Following Election Day, which saw SISD's Proposition A fail according to unofficial results, Superintendent James Vasquez is discussing what the next steps are for the district.
The measure, which was a voter approval tax rate election (VATRE), was rejected by approximately 53% of voters, with about 47% in favor.
The district had proposed that Proposition A would generate $49 million annually in additional state funding without increasing the total tax rate for homeowners. To do that, the plan called for raising the maintenance and operations (M&O) tax rate by 12 cents and lowering the debt service tax rate by the same amount, keeping the overall rate at $1.05 per $100 of property value. The funds were intended for many needs, including teacher salaries, technology upgrades, and rebuilding the district's savings to avoid further loans.
Vasquez expressed disappointment on Wednesday, stating, "Proposition A didn't turn out the way we wanted. It's a setback for sure."
He acknowledged the need for difficult financial decisions, including the possibility of seeking short-term loans or cutting school programs. "We're going to need to consider taking out short-term loans like we did last year, possibly even as early as late spring early summer," Vasquez said. "We need to look at, you know, programs. Can we afford to continue some of these programs that we offer our students?"
Despite the setback, Andrew Kim, a conservator from the Texas Education Agency, noted that the failure of the vote would not extend the agency's oversight of the district. "This is a hiccup, but this is not one of the exit criteria," Kim said.
Vasquez also mentioned the possibility of reintroducing Proposition A in a future November election, emphasizing the ongoing financial need and the district's intention to review what went wrong in the recent vote.
Vasquez had expressed concerns over the ballot, stating, "I think the difficulty was the language on the ballot. Even though it was not a tax increase the way we were doing it, the ballot language says that this is a tax increase." Vasquez highlighted the district's financial challenges, noting that their savings are currently only sufficient for 20 days of operations, far below the 75 days required by policy.
Vasquez previously warned on Tuesday ahead of the vote, "If this does not pass, it's going to be a continued strain on our budget and our fund balance." He added that the district had to take out loans last year, and failure to pass the proposition could impact student programs and teacher positions.
"Last year, we had to take out two loans, one for $25 million, one for $35 million. The interest on that was about $1.5 million. If this does not pass, there'll be a continued need to continue to borrow money," Vasquez said.
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