• The district’s current total tax rate is the lowest it has been in 25 years.

• The total tax rate has been reduced by 47.2 cents over the last five years.

Public school taxes involve two figures, which divide the school district budget into two “buckets.”

The first bucket is the Maintenance and Operations budget (M&O), which funds daily costs and recurring or consumable expenditures such as teacher and staff salaries, supplies, food and utilities. Approximately 88% of Grapevine-Colleyville ISD’s M&O budget goes to teacher and staff salaries.

The second bucket is the Interest and Sinking Fund (I&S), also known as Debt Service, and that is used to repay debt for capital improvements approved by voters through bond elections. Proceeds from a bond issue can be used for renovation of facilities and the purchase of capital items such as equipment, technology and transportation. By law, I&S funds cannot be used to pay M&O expenses, which means that voter-approved bonds cannot be used to increase teacher salaries or pay rising costs for utilities and services.