Northside ISD faces budget cuts, salary questions after voters reject tax increase

Northside Independent School District board members are expected to meet Tuesday with the district’s finance committee for the first time since voters rejected a Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election (VATRE) on Election Day.

The failed measure would have included salary increases for teachers and staff, as well as renovations across the district. It has been one week since voters rejected the VATRE.

Board members are expected to discuss general fund expenses that will need to be adjusted in the wake of the election results.

During the election, the district asked community members to approve a $0.03 tax-rate increase to fund salary raises for teachers and staff and to reduce the district’s budget deficit.

NISD also wanted voters to approve three propositions totaling around $886 million in bond money or loans to upgrade campus safety and security measures, instructional technology, buses, and to improve and renovate schools, plus replace the 50-year-old George Block Aquatic Center.

In September, KSAT asked NISD’s interim superintendent Jessica Palomares what the district would have to do if the VATRE and propositions did not pass.

“We would have to reprioritize, take a look at our budget, and then from there we could kind of see what we move forward with,” she said.

The finance committee meeting is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at the Northside Independent School District Administration Building.

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