East Texas

By COSHANDRA DILLARD
Staff Writer

Winona Independent School District trustees Monday voted to adopt a total tax rate of $1.04 per $100 property valuation, a seven-cent decrease from last year's rate since the district will not assess a tax for debt service, or interest and sinking. The district has paid off its debts toward a bond that was originally issued to pay for a facility currently in use, which was built in 1981, school officials said.

Last year's tax rate was $1.11, which included $1.04 for maintenance and operations and 7 cents for I&S.

Trustees also approved adopting a budget of $9 million, about 2.8 percent less than last year's budget of $9.3 million.

Like most school districts in the county, the increase in gasoline and food prices resulted in officials looking closely at certain items and Winona ISD officials will have slightly less funds to work with this year.

The items that saw the most increases were student transportation, security and monitoring, data processing and food services.

An additional $98,332, or $562,306, was estimated for student transportation, a 17 percent increase from last year. An allotment for security and monitoring nearly doubled, with $35,000 designated for the item, compared to $15,000 last year. There is also an estimated $68,955 added to the budget for food services. Superintendent Wiley Vonner noted that they were also allowing more money for science lab equipment and materials.

While trustees approved a 6 percent pay raise for nonprofessional employees, they did not include a pay increase for teachers at the district. Vonner said since the Texas Legislative session will convene soon, district officials want to wait and see what mandates lawmakers would have on teacher pay before approving a raise for the 2008-09 school year.

Vonner said although district officials try to predict costs according to inflation, they cannot be sure how much money is needed for certain expenditures.

"It's a guessing game," Vonner said. "It increased the budget in all categories because of the price of gasoline and it has a trickle down effect. All of the vendors that supply the school had added costs so they pass that onto consumers."

Vonner said since Winona ISD's property values is increased by 14.9 percent this year, they would actually miss out on some revenue from the state. The total taxable property value for 2008 is $366.14 million, compared to $318.72 million last year.

"If there's no real spike in enrollment, you don't get any more money from the state," Vonner said. "The more appraisal values go up, the less money the state sends you."

Winona ISD business manager Linda Wilkerson said she is still calculating the district's expenditures but she believes the school will have enough money in the budget to cover them.

"It looks like our revenue is going to match our expenditures," Ms. Wilkerson said. "We are going to have a balanced budget."

There are approximately 1,000 students at Winona ISD and the district has experienced an average growth of 2 percent each year, Vonner said.