OISD drops tax rate, enrollment up

OISD’s board of trustees approved a tax rate of $1.0324 per $100 valuation for maintenance and operations, including staff salaries and district operations. Last year’s rate was $1.0517 per $100 valuation. The district tax rates are set by the State of texas based upon Maximum Compressed Tax rates and property tax reduction legislation, OISD Chief Financial Officer Tim Orsak said.

“The district is operating very efficiently with the funding provided by our local taxpayers and state,” Mr. Orsak said.

The board also unanimously approved the district’s new $10.96 million budget, which includes $840,000 in construction projects that will be paid by funds from maturing certificates of deposit later in the year, Mr. Orsak said. Those one-time expenses include security upgrades, a new firewall for the district’s computers, the ballpark rehab, resurfacing the high school gym floor, new furniture for the Ag department, new Prometheum boards for classrooms, and repairing the AED (automatic external defibrillator) machines, Mr. Orsak said.

Enrollment is up so far this year, with the elementary school experiencing the largest growth over last school year, Dr. Roach said. The official enrollment number for OISD as of Aug. 26 was 711 students, compared with 655 at the end of last school year, he said.

“Enrollment is up by 60-plus [students] this year,” he said. “Enrollment historically increases from start to end of the school year. Olney ISD is a great school district providing excellent educational opportunities in all areas, curricular and extracurricular, to all our students.”