During a special-called meeting last week, the Alvarado ISD Board of Trustees unanimously adopted the 2021-2022 school year budget, which included a tax rate reduction and educator raise.

“One of our goals each year when putting the budget together is to be able to find funds that will allow us to give our educators a boost in pay,” said Rodney Toon, Alvarado ISD Chief Financial Officer. “To be able to do that and, at the same time, reduce the tax rate, is a great thing for everyone — our educators and our community.”

The approved tax rate of $1.37 per $100 of valuation is down over nine cents from a year ago. The general operating budget for the 2021-2022 school year is $36.4 million and the district currently has just over $3 million in federal funds from Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund (ESSER) to use toward recovering learning loss resulting from the recent pandemic.

Part of the new budget also includes a raise of at least 3% for all educators.