Preliminary Maximum Compressed Tax Rates (MCR) and Adoption of Tax Rate for Tax Year 2021 (2021-2022 School Year)

This letter is to inform you about preliminary maximum compressed tax rates (MCR) for school districts’ maintenance and operations (M&O) tax rates required under House Bill 3, 86th Legislature, for the 2021 tax year (2021-2022 school year). This notice does not apply to open-enrollment charter schools.

Background

In order to calculate and make available districts’ maximum tier one tax rates, the agency conducted a survey of local taxable property value growth through the Foundation School Program (FSP) system in the Texas Education Agency Login (TEAL). The Local Property Value Survey (LPVS) opened on July 18, 2021, and closed on August 1, 2021. For more information on tax rate compression, please read the To The Administrator Addressed Correspondence dated June 3, 2021. 

MCR Status and Appeals

Once the district has submitted the data to the TEA and received approval of the submission through the FSP system, i.e., the district’s LPVS status is “Approved,” the MCR may be considered final unless the district chooses to appeal the calculated rate. Pursuant to Section 48.2551 of the Texas Education Code, districts that do not submit their LPVS will receive the lesser of the state compression rate of 0.9134 as their MCR or their prior year MCR. The preliminary MCR values for each district are available on the State Funding webpage.

District appeals must be received by August 11, 2021, in compliance with 19 TAC, §61.1000, and should be submitted electronically to the attention of Leo Lopez on district letterhead, signed by the superintendent, to taxprograms@tea.texas.gov.

Final Determinations

If the TEA receives an appeal of a preliminary MCR, a final determination will be issued to the school district no later than August 31, 2021. The summary of finances (SOF) reports will be updated by February 2022 when the TEA receives preliminary state certified property values from the Comptroller’s Property Tax Assistance Division.

Questions

 If you have any questions related to the LPVS and calculation of maximum compressed tax rates for tax year 2021, please contact Amy Ma by email at taxprograms@tea.texas.gov.

Regards, 

Leo Lopez, RTSBA

Associate Commissioner for School Finance/Chief School Finance Officer