Burnt Orange Report

Fredericksburg ISD Weighs ‘Rich' Moniker

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I get back home to Fredericksburg now that my first year of University is done, in the midst of the Special Session on Education, and find that the Fredericksburg ISD has now joined the likes of AISD and those other huge wealthy ISDs as a "property rich" tax district. I don't know for sure, but the FISD may now be one of the few, if not the only "rich" district that has only one elementary, middle, and high school.

The local Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post has the lowdown...

Looking at school finance issues from the other side of the fence, the Fredericksburg Independent School District Board of Trustees held a first workshop on Chapter 41 issues in a special meeting before their regular monthly session Monday. They heard from newly-hired Assistant Superintendent For Business and Finance Deborah Ottmers about dealing with the "Robin Hood" system as a so-called "rich" school district as the FISD was recently classified by the State of Texas.

The classification of districts is based on the amount of property wealth per student. The projected threshold to be considered a property wealthy school district next year is $305,000 per student, and FISD property wealth per student is projected at $345,000.

"The best option fiscally for us is to have a local election that will give the district approval to buy "weighted average daily attendance (WADA) from other districts," Superintendent Marc Williamson said. "That's the cheapest and best way to keep the most money locally."

That option would allow the FISD to line up some "partner" school districts with which to share funds.

"We want to try to keep that in the Hill Country area," Williamson said.

Under current estimates, the district will lose 12 cents for every $1 collected in local taxes, he said. That will amount to approximately $2 million next year...