VATRE
What is a Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election (VATRE)?
VATRE stands for Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election. It is an election allowed by the State Legislature to approve a tax rate increase that generates additional revenue for public schools.
Unlike a school bond election, a Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election does not create new debt for the district. Instead, it provides funds for the district’s day-to-day operations, with the generated money staying within the community and additional funds being provided by the state on an annual basis.
Why call a VATRE?
Like many school districts across Texas, La Porte ISD is facing rising operational costs due to inflation while state funding has not kept pace. The state increased the basic student allotment by $55 in 2025 (from $6,160 to $6,215) — the first adjustment since 2019. While we appreciate this increase, it falls short of the approximately 17% rise in inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index over that period.
Texas school districts are funded through a combination of local tax revenue and state funding. With student enrollment declining statewide — including a loss of approximately 140 students in La Porte ISD last year — one of the few tools available to address these inflationary pressures is a Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election (VATRE), which would increase the Maintenance & Operations (M&O) tax rate by 12 cents per $100 of taxable value.
If approved, this election would provide additional local revenue for the district’s day-to-day operating budget.
Voting will be held on the November 3rd ballot for La Porte ISD residents.
Understanding LPISD’s Tax Rate History
For much of the past decade, La Porte ISD’s tax rate has included “disaster pennies” – additional M&O tax rate cents made available by the state only after a qualifying disaster declaration. These pennies are not guaranteed year to year; they depend on the state granting disaster status.
The 12 cents on the November 3rd ballot would make this funding a locally controlled, voter-approved part of the tax rate, rather than a rate that depends each year on whether the state grants a disaster designation.
Tax Impact
The total tax rate is made up of two components: Maintenance & Operations (M&O) and Interest & Sinking (I&S)
If the Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election passes,
the current LPISD Tax Rate of 1.0641 would increase to 1.0673.
Estimated Annual School Tax Impact by Home Value
These estimates reflect the district’s total tax rate (M&O + I&S) and include La Porte ISD’s local 20% optional homestead exemption, applied before the state’s $140,000 homestead exemption.
Homeowners age 65+ or disabled who have an existing Over-65/Disabled Person homestead exemption will not see an increase, as their school tax bill is frozen at their ceiling amount (see FAQ).
What’s the plan for the additional funds?
In total, the VATRE, if approved, would give the La Porte ISD access to approximately $8.4 million in additional revenue, which is 6% of the general budget. The additional funding will pay for inflationary costs associated with running a school district.
La Porte ISD will use this revenue for employee compensation, rising inflationary property insurance, gasoline and utility expenses and to continue to provide the highest level of training and teaching materials to our staff to teach our students.
Recapture and La Porte ISD
Recapture (sometimes known as the “Robin Hood” plan) is part of Texas’ school funding system that requires “property-wealthy” districts like La Porte ISD to send a portion of local property tax revenue to the state. For every tax dollar collected locally, only about 63% stays in La Porte ISD to operate our schools – the rest is recaptured by the state. Over the past 31 years since recapture began, La Porte ISD has sent more than $812 million to the state. This means millions of dollars every year generated by local taxpayers are sent to the state instead of remaining in our community to support our schools.
Why it matters?
Recapture means a significant share of locally-generated tax revenue is redirected to the state rather than remaining with La Porte ISD. The district participates in statewide efforts, through organizations such as TASB, to share information about the effects of recapture on Texas school districts. Separately, the VATRE on the November 3 ballot asks voters to decide whether to generate additional local revenue for district operations.
