(Seguin) – It’s back to the drawing board for the Seguin ISD after voters said “no” to Prop A which would have been key to solving its $4 million deficit.
The Seguin ISD was hoping that voters would consider lowering the tax rate by saying “yes” to its Voter Approval Tax Ratification Election (VATRE).
District officials say because of legislation, they have to ask the voters to approve a lower tax rate, so that they can take in more money from the state.
Tuesday’s decision by the voters now puts continued strain on the current budget.
Seguin ISD Superintendent Dr. Veronica Vijil says it was not the outcome they were hoping for.
“I have to say it’s disappointing. I mean in a word, it’s disappointing. We worked hard and we knew that this was important for the school district, for public education and it just didn’t go our way today,” said Vijil.
Although they know the district will be okay, Dr. Vijil says the process will still be challenging.
“It’s a hard time for public education. We seem to be getting a lot of obstacles, and we’ll overcome this. We know we will. It will definitely make things a challenge. It will be very challenging moving forward. It was going to help –– not remove the deficit, but it was certainly going to contribute toward narrowing that gap. It won’t now, so we’ll continue to look for ways to: A – generate any funds through grants or whatever options there are for us out there. And B – take a hard look, again, at what may need to be looked at very closely as far as our removal of resources that we’ve learned to count on,” said Vijil.
In the meantime, Dr. Vijil says the district will look to the state in hopes of identifying its next steps.
“All eyes will be on the legislative session starting in January and we know what they will be looking at. We know that it will continue to be a hurdle for us. It’s just a hurdle and we’ll watch it, and we’ll monitor it very closely. Hopefully, they make some decisions that are in favor of public education,” said Vijil.
A total of 9,369 votes were cast against Prop A. That’s compared to only 8,935 votes that were cast in favor of lowering the tax rate.