The Levelland ISD Board of Trustees (LISD) moved forward in their budget process for the upcoming FY 2025-2026 year during their monthly meeting Wednesday.
The Board held a public hearing on the 2025-2026 budget and tax rate. The proposed tax rate for this year on average will be $532.37 which is a decrease from last year’s tax rate.
State law requires a public hearing prior to the adoption of a budget. Any taxpayer in the district may be present and participate in the hearing.
The proposed tax rate for the 2025 tax year is $0.8022 per $100 value for the purposes of maintenance and operation, and $0.1720 per $100 value for debt service for a total of $0.9742 per $100 value, which is the same rate total.
In accordance with Texas Tax Code, the Board is authorized to adopt a tax rate that exceeds the voter-approval rate without requiring an election—provided the rate is only applied for the current tax year.
Next was the adoption of the 2025-2026 budget. The total revenue for general funds is $31,478,540, the food service fund is $2,182,085 and the debt service fund is $2,457,000. The district has a savings of $4 million, the district can pay off the debt payments and still be able to decrease the I&S rate. LISD is roughly $45 million in debt overall but has $30 million in bonds. The debt must be paid off in 2038.
To meet the needs, the district has elected to increase the Maintenance & Operations (M&O) tax rate by $0.11. However, to ensure there is no overall increase in the tax burden to taxpayers, the district has decreased the Interest & Sinking (I&S) tax rate by the same amount ($0.11).
This adjustment allows the district to respond to urgent needs while maintaining a neutral overall tax rate for the community. This resolution authorizes the district to adopt a 2025 tax rate that includes an additional $0.11. This one-time tax adjustment does not impact the calculation of the voter-approval tax rate for future years. The resolution will take effect immediately. The board adopted this plan with no issue.
The group also adopted a resolution to approve the district’s access to disaster pennies.
In May 2024, LISD and the surrounding Hockley County area experienced a severe thunderstorm. Following this event, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster proclamation, later amended to include Hockley County, and requested federal assistance. FEMA approved the county for federal disaster relief in early June 2024.
The Board also approved an ordinance levying a tax rate for 2025. In compliance with Texas Education Code, the group is required to adopt a tax rate after conducting a public hearing for discussion of the proposed rate.
A compensation plan was discussed next. Certain professional employees, including classroom teachers, fulltime librarians, fulltime counselors, and full-time nurses, must be paid not less than the state minimum salary, based on the employee’s level of experience and other factors, as specified by state law. Anyone on the three- and fouryear mark of experience is to be paid an increase of $4,000 and anyone above five years will get an increase of $8,000. The motion was approved with no issue.
The Board went over a budget amendment with the purpose of adjusting budget amounts to cover estimated expenditures and increase revenue to offset the increase of expenditures and/or to protect the ledger against any journal entries that may result from preparation for the financial audit.
Additionally, the Board discussed the SHARS reimbursement services. The district needed a contract with a company to handle their SHARS reimbursements. The district has had four proposals from four different Medicaid billing services.
The one the district was currently using was having a lot of technical difficulties. The group decided to go with Frontline Education with a one-time fee of $5,000 and was approved with no issue.
A resolution for the Senate Bill 12 and parental rights was passed. Senate Bill 12 will go into effect on Sept. 1.
Some of the policies of this bill include instructional plans or course syllabi for each class offered in the district for a semester must be posted on the district’s internet website at the beginning of each semester and written parental consent is required before a student may participate in a student club authorized or sponsored by the district or campus.
Student personal communication device guidelines were discussed.
During the state’s 2025 legislative session, lawmakers passed, and Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a bill that prohibits students from using personal devices during school hours. House Bill 1481 takes effect the 2025-2026 school year and requires all Texas school districts to prohibit students from using “personal wireless communication devices,” which the law defines as “any wireless electronic communication device, other than a device provided to students by a school for instructional purposes, capable of transmitting and/or receiving data.”
The group had to approve the consequences for violations of the district’s student personal communication device policy.
The Board discussed innovative courses which allows for the implementation of stateapproved courses not found in the standard TEKS curriculum.
These courses address specialized content areas, workforce trends, or student interests that support academic and career readiness.
Innovative and locally developed courses for the 2025– 2026 school year were approved.
TEA-Approved Innovative Courses are college transition, general employability skills, methodology for academic & personal success and sports medicine I.
Locally Developed Courses are locally developed mathematics and locally developed science.
A resolution regarding the designation of nonbusiness days was passed for the 2026 calendar year. LISD reviewed a 2026 calendar to determine which school days it would like to designate as “nonbusiness days”. Consideration was given to the The dates include Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, New Year’s Week, and anticipated dates in March for Spring Break.