The school debt tax on an average home, 10 years

Key facts

• Debt tax on an average home, 2026-27: about $1,519¹
• Highest year: 2021-22, about $1,718²
• Ten-year total, 2017-18 to 2026-27: about $15,300 (our math)³

In short

Part of your school tax pays back the district’s loans. This part is called the debt tax. On an average home it has cost about $1,400 to $1,700 a year for ten years.³ The rate fell in 2022-23. But home values went up, so the yearly bill climbed back.²

Numbers marked “our math” are our estimates, not official figures. The notes show the inputs and the steps.

How it works

• Two parts of the school tax. One part runs the schools. The other part, the debt tax, pays back loans that voters approved.²
• The bill is rate times value. Take the home’s taxable value. Divide by 100. Multiply by the debt tax rate.¹
• “Average home” is the district’s own number. It is the average taxable value of a home with a homestead exemption.¹

The numbers

School year	Average taxable value	Debt tax rate (per $100)	Debt tax on that home (our math)
2017-18	$319,262	47.19¢	$1,507
2018-19	$326,132	47.00¢	$1,533
2019-20	$340,890	46.75¢	$1,594
2020-21	$344,237	46.50¢	$1,601
2021-22	$369,431	46.50¢	$1,718
2022-23	$423,031	33.00¢	$1,396
2023-24	$427,922	33.00¢	$1,412
2024-25	$455,928	33.00¢	$1,505
2025-26	$470,461	33.00¢	$1,553
2026-27	$460,292	33.00¢	$1,519
Total			about $15,336

Sources: district budget presentations and the district’s audit.¹²⁴ Each bill is our math: value ÷ 100 × rate.³

Deep dive

• The big drop in 2022-23. The debt rate fell from 46.5 cents to 33 cents.² The bill on an average home fell about $322 that year (our math).³
• Then values did the work. From 2022-23 to 2025-26 the rate stayed at 33 cents. The average taxable value rose about 11%, so the bill rose too (our math).³
• 2026-27 is a little lower. The average taxable value fell slightly, from $470,461 to $460,292.¹

The other side

• Your home is not the average home. A home worth more pays more. A home with an over-65 or disability exemption can pay much less.
• Taxable value is not market value. In 2025-26 the district’s average home had a market value of about $620,000 but a taxable value of about $470,000, after exemptions.² See how the homestead exemption changes your bill.
• The debt tax buys buildings. It pays for schools, buses and other things voters approved. This page shows the cost, not whether the spending was worth it. See Debt and Interest.

What you can do

• Find your own taxable value on your appraisal notice. Divide by 100 and multiply by 0.33 to estimate your school debt tax.
• Ask the board how future loans would change the debt rate.

What we still don’t know

• The district’s average taxable value for years before 2016-17 in the same format.

Questions to ask

• Can the district post average taxable values for the earlier years in the same format?
• Where does the district post its debt tax rate history?

Changes to this page

• Nov. 2, 2026: Plainer wording about exemptions.
• Nov. 2, 2026: Added questions to ask.
• Nov. 2, 2026: We fixed a small rounding slip in the math note. The total shown did not change.

Footnotes

1. Leander ISD board packet, Aug. 6, 2026, pages 234–235: average taxable home value $460,292 (2026-27) and $470,461 (2025-26), debt tax rate 33 cents. Board packet. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. Leander ISD tax rate hearing presentation, Aug. 21, 2025, page 21, “Tax Rate Impact on Average Value Home”: average taxable values 2021-22 to 2024-25 and debt (I&S) rates 46.5¢ (2021-22) and 33¢ (2022-23 on). Board packet. Earlier years: Leander ISD 2022-23 tax rate presentation, “Average Taxable value” 2017-18 to 2020-21 and I&S rates for 2019-20 and 2020-21. BoardBook document 540113. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

3. Our math: taxable value ÷ 100 × debt rate for each year, then added. Sum $15,335.83. 2021-22 to 2022-23 change: $1,717.85 − $1,396.00 = $321.85. Value change 2022-23 to 2025-26: $470,461 ÷ $423,031 = 1.112. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. Leander ISD, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report 2025, ten-year property tax rate table: debt rate $0.471900 for the 2017 tax year and $0.470000 for the 2018 tax year. District financial transparency page. ↩