Since launching in November, Graham ISD has been promoting a message of transparency regarding the district’s financial operations, budgeting, tax rate and more through its Dollars and Sense campaign.
The district launched the website to help break down school finance and operations. Superintendent Mary Johnston said the campaign was intended to simplify complex topics such as school finance and the district’s operating budget.
“This project will promote transparency and effectively communicate while sharing facts and encouraging community engagement,” Johnston said. “It addresses goals in our board-adopted strategic plan and will include messaging surrounding good student attendance.”
On the website are tabs for school finance, budget, tax rate, enrollment versus attendance and a page to connect with the district.
“The whole point of this project, Dollars and Sense, is to promote transparency, share the challenges that school districts are facing, identify solutions and involve the greater Graham ISD community in understanding school finance,” Johnston said in October.
The school finance tab shows how the district’s budget is split into local, state and federal funding. Local funding makes up approximately 36% of the funding for the district while state funding makes up the majority at 60%.
Local funding comes primarily from property taxes while state funding is calculated based on student attendance, with additional funding for students in special programs or other services.
Federal funding for is the smallest portion for the district and is to support special education services. Federal funding accounts for 4% of the district’s funding.
Under the budget tab, the district shows the details of the $30.8 million general operating budget of GISD.
According to the district, $22.1 million, or 72%, of that budget is from instructional-related campus student costs. Maintenance and operations make up $4.03 million, or 13%, debt service makes up $3.8 million, or 12% and district administrative costs make up 3%, or $1 million.
In August, the GISD Board of Trustees adopted the voter-approval tax rate of $0.9863 per $100 valuation, which was a slight decrease from the previous tax rate of $0.9888 per $100 valuation.
The voter approval rate is the highest tax rate the district may adopt without holding an election to seek voter approval of the rate.
The GISD tax rate is divided into two rates: the Maintenance and Operations (M&O) rate and the Interest and Sinking (I&S) rate. The M&O rate for the district is $0.6757 per $100 valuation while the I&S rate is $0.3106 per $100 valuation.
The M&O rate funds the needs of the district such as employee salaries, classroom supplies, utilities and student transportation. The I&S rate is the debt rate reserved for long-term investments such as building schools, renovating facilities or making safety improvements.
“I&S tax collections cannot be used to pay staff salaries or cover daily operating expenses,” the website states. “Most districts in Texas don’t have enough money in their M&O budget to cover construction and capital improvement expenses.”
The 2025-2026 GISD budget is based on an attendance rate or 94%. With over 130 students absent each day, the district sees a loss of $4,387 in state funding each day. Enrollment is also a factor of funding with less students enrolled in the district bringing less student attendance.
“In Texas, school funding is based on student attendance—when students miss class, not only do they lose the benefit of direct instruction, GISD loses funds,” the website states. “Every minute missed adds up, making attendance a key part of our financial picture and student success.”
The website also links to the financial transparency page for the district which includes attendance and enrollment information, audits and advisory comments, budgets, cash and investment reports and other financial information.
Those with additional questions regarding school finance can email dollarsandsense@grahamisd.com.