College Station Independent School District

Success, Each Life...Each Day...Each Hour

Previous Bond and Debt Information

The City of College Station is growing, and so is its school enrollment. In fact, CSISD has added 1,519 students the past two years alone. With this growth comes the need for more instructional space, technology, buses, and a host of other capital items which make a school district function at maximum efficiency.

In order to provide new buildings and infrastructure, school districts rely on selling municipal bonds. These bonds are purchased by investors. The district pays back the investor's original investment with interest. It is akin to a family borrowing money to purchase a house or a vehicle. This money is not used for operations and, by law, can only be used for capital projects.

CSISD is certainly not alone in experiencing rapid growth. There are several school districts in Texas which are high-growth districts and have recently built a second comprehensive high school, just like CSISD.

See the chart below to see how CSISD's I&S tax rate and total debt service obligations stack up against comparable districts.

School District I&S Tax Rate School District I&S Debt
(principal + interest)
2014-15 tax rates and values represented below.
Georgetown ISD $0.318 Magnolia ISD $193,994,600
College Station ISD $0.323 Georgetown ISD $306,795,000
Tomball ISD $0.34 Bastrop ISD $377,279,580
Magnolia ISD $0.3495 College Station ISD $379,289,785
Rockwall ISD $0.40 Rockwall ISD $687,133,320
Northwest ISD $0.4125 Forney ISD $729,341,490
Bastrop ISD $0.421 Tomball ISD $745,690,696
Burleson ISD $0.50 Burleson ISD $860,722,599
Forney ISD $0.50 Northwest ISD $911,430,788


There are two tax rates CSISD residents pay each year in property taxes which go toward supporting the school district.

The first tax rate is the maintenance and operations (M&O) tax rate, which is currently set at $1.04 per $100 of valuation. CSISD, or any other school district for that matter, does not borrow money for daily operations, which include employee salaries, paying the electricity bill, purchasing supplies, and any other day-to-day operations costs.

The second tax rate is the interest and sinking (I&S) rate, which was reduced from $0.34 to $0.323 per $100 of valuation for this year. The reduction is due to an approximate eight percent increase in taxable values, as well as the district paying down its debt. The district sets the I&S tax rate each year to coincide with the amount of money necessary to make payments on its bonds. All debt service tax rate increases must be approved by voters and the maximum rate allowed by law is $0.50.

Big-ticket items, like school buildings and renovations, are financed for periods of 20 to 30 years, while items with a shorter shelf-life, like technology and vehicles, are financed for 5 to 10 years.

Additionally, school districts occasionally refinance bonds to get better terms and interest rates. These refinances save the taxpayers a considerable amount of money.

The chart below outlines all of CSISD's current bond obligations, including original bond sales as well as refinanced packages. The chart also shows when each bond package is scheduled to be paid off and includes those obligations that have already been paid in full.

Bond Sale/
Refinance Year
Amount of Sale
or Refinance
Principal + Interest
Owed
Payoff Date
1996 $20,000,000 $0 Paid Off / 2006
1997 $29,550,000 $0 Paid Off / 2007
1999 $8,000,000 $0 Paid Off / 2011
2002 $12,700,000 $0 Paid Off / 2012
2004 $32,000,000 $1,276,125 2016
2006 $9,350,000 $1,137,750 2016
2007 $67,420,000 $6,957,800 2017
2009 $5,290,000 $2,943,493 2020
2009 $37,500,000 $43,174,481 2035
2010 $65,000,000 $79,691,500 2036
2011 $41,700,000 $57,054,636 2037
2012 $8,945,000 $8,751,200 2024
2014 83,500,000 $119,449,800 2039
2015 46,455,000 $58,853,000 2027
TOTAL Principal + Interest $379,289,785
Website by SchoolMessenger Presence. © PowerSchool Corporation. All rights reserved.