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Manor Independent School District

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Trustees approve 2024 - 2025 budget, discuss impact of November VATRE

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Manor ISD Board of Trustees approved a budget of $119.7 million for the 2024-2025 year during its June 17 Regular Board meeting. 

Factors that impacted this year's budget development included the discontinuation of federal funding programs that the district had utilized, the Texas legislature's decision not to increase the basic allotment of funds school districts receive per student, state mandates like HB3 that the district will have to allocate unanticipated funds to meet, rising operating costs due to inflation and the districts recapture payment. This year alone, Manor ISD is expected to give nearly $2 million back to the state in recapture payments.  

In addition to these costs, Manor ISD will absorb over $1 million to keep health insurance costs for employees the same as last year.  District insurance costs for staff rose 12%, and  Manor ISD chose to take on the additional costs within the budget instead of passing the costs onto employees.

The budget also includes funds dedicated to a guaranteed 1 percent salary increase for staff with the possibility of raising it by an additional two percent, pending Trustees calling for and the community approving a Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election (VATRE) during the November 5, 2024 election. If the VATRE is called for and approved, an additional $4.8 million would be injected into the budget to: 

  • Provide all employees with a total 3% salary increase of the midpoint for the 2024-2025 school year.
  • Support campus safety and security by funding salaries for new school police officers and equipment, and 
  • Support mental health support by funding salaries for new social workers and student programs. 

A VATRE allows voters to approve or disapprove the tax rate adopted by the Board of Trustees. If passed, it will allow Manor ISD to access the maximum amount of tax revenue from golden pennies, which is not subject to recapture and would remain with the district. 

The currently adopted budget, which does not include VATRE considerations, has a projected deficit of an estimated $20.8  million, a $3.1 million reduction of the budget deficit for the 2023-2024 school year. The district has been able to reduce the anticipated deficit through district-wide budget reductions and staff attrition, as well as by improving the utilization of district and campus facilities to reduce operation costs.

If the VATRE is called for and approved on November 5, the budget will be amended after the election to reflect the additional funds and further reduced deficit that would result from the VATRE. If the amendment was made, the deficit would be $18.7 million. 


The Board of Trustees will approve the tax rate when the VATRE is officially called during their regular board meeting in August. Including the consideration of an approved VATRE, the projected tax rate for Manor ISD is expected to be $1.0814 per taxable $100 for the 2024-2025 school year, which is lower than the district's $1.0861 tax rate for 2023-2024. The district could achieve this tax rate due to the state lowering the maximum compressed tax rate during its 88th legislature session last year.