Petition for an election
Petition for an election
Written by Beth Wade Sunday, 07 October 2007
Group seeks signatures
A group of local leaders and volunteers in the Round Rock area began a campaign this spring to initiate a vote to decide if Round Rock ISD should join the Austin Community College taxing district. They have almost reached their October deadline to gather support.
The group, ACCtion 4 Education, needs signatures from five percent of the registered voters in the affected area, a total of around 4,200. Another 3,000 signatures must be collected before midnight, Oct. 31.
“We have had a very good response. We took the district and mapped a walking list of where we know registered voters live,” said Raymond Hartfield, co-chair on the ACCtion steering committee “I hope we make it. We have worked hard to get there, but we can use all the help we can get.”
If the annexation passes, it will come with a 9.58 cents per $100 tax increase. However, students and residents living in the school district will have access to a lower tuition rate. RRISD high school students will qualify for free dual credit courses and ACC will build a campus.
For now, ACCtion is just focusing on getting the item on the ballot.
“We are not asking people to sign because they support the annexation,” Hartfield said. “We are asking people to sign the petition and put it on the ballot, and support the democratic way of letting the people vote yes or no. We are not trying to sell the proposition; we are not trying to tell people it is a good idea. We are just saying put it on the ballot.”
Around 33 percent of the school district with Austin addresses was already annexed during the All-of-Austin-Annexation in 2005, qualifying residents for the lower tuition rates. An election next May could bring all of Round Rock into the taxing district.
Every signature collected must be accompanied by a person’s birthdate, address and/or voter registration number, if it is available. The information is needed to authenticate signatures, meaning those who sign but are not registered to vote cannot be counted.
“It is amazing how many people think they are registered, but they are not. With this community that is growing so rapidly, some people may have been registered where they used to live, but they need to re-register here,” Hartfield said. “Twenty-five of every 100 signatures aren’t going to make it. We’ve set out to get 6,000 people to sign, so we can net 4,200.”
To gather more signatures, the group has promised non-profit organizations and other groups, such as high school bands and choirs, $2 for every signature gathered while walking neighborhoods in the affected areas. The group mapped the areas and created a walking list to easily identify where registered voters live.
ACC announced plans earlier this summer to build its largest campus to date near the Round Rock Higher Education Center and is in the process of acquiring 62 acres of land through a partial sale and donation from the Avery family.
This is the first time the two-year college has sought land in an area that is not in the taxing district. The college’s master plan includes a future campus in Round Rock because of the area’s growth; however, the school cannot force annexation on the community. Any annexation efforts must come from within the community, according to ACC policy.
Source: www.acction4education.com
| Annual tax implications | |||
| A 9.58 cent raise for every $100 in property tax | |||
| Property Value | $100,000 | $140,000 | $220,000 |
| Regular homestead | $91.68 | $127.92 | $207.48 |
| Senior/disabled | $19.32 | $57.96 | $135.12 |
| Commercial | $96.48 | $135.12 | $212.28 |
| Tuition/fee implications* | |
| In district | $39 per credit hour |
| Out of district | $118 per credit hour |
| Out of state | $276 per credit hour |
*Valid through Summer 2008 semester | |
| Number of Round Rock ISD graduates from FY 2006 enrolled in Texas Public Higher Education in Fall 2006 | |
| Austin Community College | 295 |
| University of Texas at Austin | 143 |
| University of Texas at San Antonio | 118 |
| Texas A&M University | 97 |
| Texas State University - San Marcos | 65 |
| Source: Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and Texas Education Agency | |
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