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Lubbock-Cooper ISD’s Prop A, explained: what a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote means for your tax bill

By HCUncovered

If you live in the Lubbock-Cooper Independent School District, there’s one item on your ballot that will directly affect your property tax bill: Proposition A.

It’s what Texas calls a voter-approval tax rate election, or VATRE. Here’s what is on the ballot, what it would cost and what each side is saying, all in one place.

What the ballot says

The ballot language starts with the words “THIS IS A TAX INCREASE.” It then asks voters to ratify a total tax rate of $1.1969 per $100 of property value, according to the ballot text published by The Gist and the Texas ballot guide Civitas.

The ballot says the rate would raise the district’s maintenance-and-operations (M&O) tax revenue by 8.7013% over last year, which is $3,072,732 more.

A “yes” vote approves the rate. A “no” vote rejects it.

The district’s school board ordered the election at its Aug. 17 meeting, according to the board agenda posted on BoardBook. KCBD reported on Aug. 18 that the adopted rate is 3 cents higher than last year’s $1.1669.

How much would it cost a homeowner?

You’ll see several different numbers depending on where you look, because news outlets and the campaign have measured the cost in different ways.

  • About $144 a year for the average homeowner, KCBD reported in August when the board adopted the rate.
  • About $65 a year on the average home, according to district figures KCBD reported on Oct. 19.
  • “A little more than $5 a month,” EverythingLubbock reported.
  • $5.47 a month on a $358,669 home after the $140,000 homestead exemption, according to the pro-Prop A campaign site, VoteYesLCISD.com.

EverythingLubbock also reported that homeowners age 65 and older whose school taxes are frozen would not see an increase.

The two district-based figures KCBD reported, about $144 a year in August and about $65 a year in October, don’t match, and the reports didn’t say what home value or exemptions each estimate assumed. The October figure is roughly in line with the campaign’s $5.47-a-month estimate, which works out to about $66 a year. Hub City UnCovered could not determine which estimate the district considers current. Your own bill will depend on your home’s taxable value and exemptions.

How much money would it raise?

The numbers vary here too, mostly because some include state money and some don’t.

The ballot figure, $3,072,732, counts only the extra local M&O tax revenue. The campaign site says the full effect is about $3.85 million a year: about $1.61 million in local taxes plus about $2.24 million in state funding that the extra pennies would unlock. EverythingLubbock reported about $3.8 million a year, and KCBD reported “nearly $4 million” in its October story.

The extra state money is tied to what Texas calls “golden pennies,” which the campaign site says draw more state aid per penny than the district’s other tax pennies.

Why the district says it needs the money

Supporters say the district has been running deficits. When trustees adopted the district’s 2026 budget in June 2025, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported, the general operating budget projected a $5.1 million deficit, driven largely by a $4.8 million increase in instructional costs tied in part to House Bill 2, the state’s 2025 school funding and teacher pay law.

In August, KCBD reported that district documents showed Lubbock-Cooper’s adopted budget was still short by nearly $500,000. That report did not spell out how the gap relates to the Prop A revenue, and Hub City UnCovered could not independently confirm whether the figure is still current.

The VoteYesLCISD campaign site says operating costs have risen 51% over five years. It says base state funding has gone up less than 1% since the 2019-20 school year and that payroll makes up 85% of the budget. The site also notes that the district’s total rate was $1.54 in 2019, much higher than today’s proposed $1.1969.

Krystal Pierce, a Lubbock-Cooper parent and president of the district’s Education Foundation, told EverythingLubbock this is the district’s fourth year of deficits. “We start seeing additional cuts,” she said. “That could be staffing cuts, reductions on our teachers and professional staff.”

The campaign site says that without Prop A the district could face a reduction in force, which means layoffs.

The Lubbock Chamber of Commerce held a news conference endorsing Prop A, KCBD reported.

Is anyone opposing it?

As of Oct. 17, the ballot guide Civitas said it had found no organized opposition campaign. Hub City UnCovered also did not find a formal “vote no” group while reporting this story. If you know of one, let us know.

How to vote

Early voting runs through Friday, Oct. 30, and Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. The main early-voting site is the Lubbock County Elections Office at 1308 Crickets Ave., according to Dock Line Magazine. On Election Day, the LCISD administration building at 13807 Indiana Ave. is also a voting site. Check hours and locations at votelubbock.gov before you go.

Prop A appears only on the ballots of voters who live inside Lubbock-Cooper ISD. Nearby Lorenzo ISD voters also have school measures on their ballot this year.

Comment from Lubbock-Cooper ISD on the cost figures was not available at publication.

Sources

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