(Seguin) — If Seguin is going to successfully grow into the city that local leaders believe it can become, they say that growth will require more than new roads, homes, restaurants and retail developments. It will also require an investment in people. That message was also a major part of Tuesday night’s State of the City address, as Mayor Donna Dodgen and City Manager Steve Parker made the case that education — from the classrooms of Seguin ISD to the technical training that will soon be offered at Texas State Technical College — will play a critical role in determining whether
For Seguin ISD, that discussion comes at a particularly important time.
Voters will soon decide a Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election, or VATRE.
The VATRE will allow the district to shift two cents of its existing tax rate, from debt service to its general operating fund.
Parker says it’s important to remember that the tax rate would remain unchanged, but approval would allow the district to access additional funding that could be used to support students, teachers and classrooms.
“It’s very, very simple, but it’s also could come across as a little bit complicated. But at the end of the day, the tax rate of the school district is $1.08. So if you have $100,000 house, you’re going to pay $1,080. If this passes, you’re going pay $1,080 in taxes. It does not change the amount that you are paying as a taxpayer,” said Parker.
Parker says this may not directly be a city issue, but he says it’s very important to the city’s future. He says this helps the district better fund local schools, and it’s not going to change the district’s overall tax rate.
“If this passes, that means that the state will contribute one and a half more million dollars to the city of Seguin school district if it passes. If not, it stays the same. It’s still the $1.08, but we don’t get the million and a half dollars from the state of Texas,” said Parker.
Mayor Dodgen agreed with Parker’s assessment. She says Seguin ISD voters can make a big change for the district’s finances without taking on any additional tax burden.
“You can’t touch that other pot for these things. So, we need to be able for you guys to approve moving that over so they can use that money in a wider range,” said Dodgen.
Dodgen and Parker stopped short of telling people how to vote on this issue, but it was clear that they both personally believed that this would be a good thing for Seguin ISD and, by extension, a good thing for the city of Seguin. Parker says he believes this is the right time to do the right thing for kids in the school district.
“They did this last year and it failed, because people weren’t talking about what it means to the school district. It is not, in my opinion, a tax rate increase. So, do your homework, figure out what you need to figure out. Go meet with the school district, (or) watch one of their presentations. It’s all online (and) you can find that. But I just encourage you to educate yourselves,” said Parker.
The city’s support of education extends beyond the high school years. The city already has Texas Lutheran University as one of its longtime partners, but it’s about to get one of the largest Texas State Technical College campuses in the state. TSTC is building its new campus at the corner of State Highway 46 and Cordova Road.
Mayor Dodgen says the TSTC campus in Seguin is expected to have the largest enrollment of any of its campuses across the state.
“It will have anywhere from 6,000 to 8,000 students, which will be the largest campus in the state of Texas — for the number of students. Land wise, it’ll be the second largest. Waco is the first and we will be the second (largest land size). And I will tell you, we have worked extremely hard with Texas State Technical College and those around us and our manufacturers to ensure that this occurs, because I see this (as important). We see this as a major way to change our poverty rate, a major way looking at daycare there, looking at transportation there, looking at any barrier that potentially might be there so that folks can be successful at Texas State Technical College,” said Dodgen. “I really do believe that education is a way out of changing our poverty rates.”
Mayor Dodgen mentioned the poverty rate, because that’s a significant reason why the State of the City address spent so much time talking about education. Dodgen says education — whether it’s with the Seguin or Navarro school districts, or post-secondary education at TLU or TSTC — is the thing that will help change more lives and bring more families out of poverty.
“One of the pieces of information that I think is important is the poverty mitigation. You know, in 2016, our poverty rate was about 26 percent. It’s dropped to about 17.6 percent. I will tell you that is still too high. That is too high. And so, we’re working on…some workforce type things, some things that we’re doing and some companies that are coming that will help with that. So, hopefully that will continue to migrate downward and will migrate down at a much faster rate,” said Dodgen.
City officials stress that Seguin can build all the infrastructure and new projects that it wants, but if the people who live here aren’t positioned to benefit from the growth, then taking Seguin to the “next level” doesn’t mean very much.
It’s a big part of the reason why Parker and Dodgen focused so heavily on Seguin ISD’s VATRE, and the coming construction of the new Seguin-based TSTC campus. The VATRE will appear on the November 3 ballot.
It would provide $2.4 million in new funding for the district. You can find more details at seguinisd.net.