Property Tax Information

Visit https://Texas.gov/PropertyTaxes to find a link to your local property tax database on which you can easily access information regarding your property taxes, including information regarding the amount of taxes that each entity that taxes your property will impose if the entity adopts its proposed tax rate. Your local property tax database will be updated regularly during August and September as local elected officials propose and adopt the property tax rates that will determine how much you pay in property taxes.

Property taxes for the San Marcos Independent School District are collected by Hays County. Property owners will receive one consolidated bill from Hays County. Tax payments are not accepted at the San Marcos ISD Administration Building but should be either mailed or taken to one of the Hays County Tax Offices. The mailing address for Hays County Tax Office is:

Jenifer O’Kane
Hays County Tax Office
712 S Stagecoach Trail, Suite 1120
San Marcos, TX 78666-6073

Tax payment questions should be addressed to the Hays County Tax Office at (512) 393-5545. Physical locations can be found at the Hays County Tax Assessor/Collector.

The Special Education Information Center (SPEDTex) provides resources and interactive features for increasing family awareness of disabilities and special education processes, with the goal of improving partnerships between schools and families.

Requires a school district to make available, if technologically feasible, on its Internet website a landowner's bill of rights prepared by the Attorney General. Property code, §21.0112(b)(2)

This bill requires school districts with website capabilities to post information relating to immunizations exceptions, required and suggested immunizations for school age children, information on health clinics offering vaccines and links to the DSHS website. Information should be available in English and Spanish. The Texas State Department of Health Services has immunization requirements for schools in English and Spanish.

School districts must place their employment policies on their websites and have the policies available for inspection at each school.

A school district is required to post on an Internet website maintained by the district the date the PSAT/NMSQT will be administered and the date any college advanced placement tests will be administered. The notice must state that the PSAT/NMSQT or the advanced placement test is available for home-schooled students eligible to attend school in the district and describe the procedures for a home-schooled student to register for the test.

School districts and TEA are required to establish a goal to reduce annual electric consumption by five percent each state fiscal year for six years beginning September 1, 2007 . School districts and TEA are required to record electricity, water, and natural gas consumption in an electronic repository and report this information on a publicly accessible Internet website with an interface designed for ease of navigation.

Legislature Requires a school district to post notices of meetings of the school board on the school district’s website, if a website is maintained by, or for, the district and if a school district is located in whole or in part within the corporate boundaries of a municipality with a population of 48,000 or more. The Internet posting is in addition to any other posting required. The validity of a notice or agenda is not affected by a failure to comply with a requirement under the new section that is due to a technical problem beyond the control of the school district. This language is in addition to the current requirement to post meeting notices on a bulletin board at a place convenient to the public in the central administrative office of the district.

Entities must designate an agent to receive notifications of claimed infringement and include this information on its website in a location accessible to the public. Local Government Code Chapter 176 Conflict of Interest The district must provide access to information concerning business relationships between local government officials and vendors that contract with local government entities. The manner by which information about these business relationships are disclosed was the subject of extensive interpretation and clarification by the Attorney General in GA-0446. 
See: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/opinions/50abbott/op/2006/pdf/ga0446.pdf The records administrator for the entity is required to maintain a list of “local government officers of the entity and shall make that list available to the public and any person who may be required to file a questionnaire. In addition, entities are required to “provide access to the statements and questionnaires . . . on the Internet website maintained by the local governmental entity. Larger entities have additional internet website listing requirements. HB 1491 from the 80 th legislature codifies many of the rulings in GA-0446. It provides that a local governmental entity is not required to maintain an Internet site to provide access to statements and questionnaires.

Districts must post on their website the Maintenance and Operations (M & O) tax rate if it exceeds the effective rate.

Legislature, 3rd called session Requires school districts to post on their website a summary of their proposed budget at the same time the districts post their notice of the budget. The summary must include aggregate and per student spending on instruction; instructional support; central administration; district operations; debt service; and any other category designated by the commissioner. The summary must also include a comparison to the previous year’s actual spending.

School districts must implement the new requirements regarding posting notice of vacancies for which a license or certificate is required under Section 21.003. The district must provide such notice by posting the position on a bulletin board at a place convenient to the public in the district's central administrative office, a bulletin board at the central administrative office of each campus in the district during any time the office is open, and the district's Internet website, if any.

School districts must place their employment policies on their websites and have the policies available for inspection at each school.

A district that does not meet the 65% instructional expenditure standard may publish on their website their check register (excluding their payroll register) and their yearly payroll expenditure and receive full credit for this indicator. The district must notify the TEA within the 30-day review process that they have posted their register on the district's website and provide the website address to receive credit for this indicator.

Starting in calendar year 2007, the school district is to provide a copy of the superintendent's contract EITHER as a disclosure in the financial management report provided to attendees at the Schools FIRST hearing OR by posting the contract on the district's Internet site.

Superintendent's Contract

The legislation adds an emphasis on proper nutrition and exercise to the health curriculum required for kindergarten through grade 12 in Education Code Sec. 28.004. A school district shall publish in the student handbook and post on the district's Internet website, a statement of the policies adopted to ensure that elementary school, middle school, and junior high school students engage in at least 30 minutes per school day or 135 minutes per school week of physical activity; and a statement of:

• the number of times during the preceding year the district's school health advisory council has met;
• whether the district has adopted and enforces policies to ensure that district campuses comply with agency vending machine and food service guidelines for restricting student access to vending machines; and
• whether the district has adopted and enforces policies and procedures that prescribe penalties for the use of tobacco products by students and others on school campuses or at school-sponsored or school-related activities.

Requires school districts to notify the parent(s) and/or guardian(s) of all students in grades 9 – 12 of the availability of programs under which they may earn college credit, including Advanced Placement programs, International Baccalaureate programs, dual credit programs, and joint high school and college credit programs. The notification may be provided on the district’s Internet website and must include the name and contact information of any public or private entity offering such a program.

Requires a school district to post on its website, if it maintains a website, the annual report submitted to TRS and a copy of the group health coverage plan.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed by President Obama on December 10, 2015, and represents good news for our nation’s schools. This bipartisan measure reauthorizes the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the nation’s national education law and longstanding commitment to equal opportunity for all students.

Texas Education Code (37.105)