Do people pay their school taxes?

Key facts

• Paid in the same year (2024-25): 99.02% of the school tax bill¹
• Paid in the end (2015-16 to 2023-24): 99.76% to 99.96%¹
• Unpaid taxes from all years, June 30, 2025: about $8.7 million²
• Late fees after July 1: a 12% penalty plus 1% interest a month³

In short

Almost all of the tax gets paid. About 99 of every 100 tax dollars billed are paid in the same year. Over time, the share gets close to 99.8% or higher.¹ Unpaid taxes from all past years added up to about $8.7 million in mid-2025. That is less than 2% of one year’s bill, but it has about doubled since 2016.² Late bills get a penalty and interest set by state law.³

Related: property tax bill · homestead exemption effect · where the money comes from · tax rate history

Layer 1: The 30-second version

The district does not mail tax bills itself. The Williamson and Travis county tax offices bill and collect for it.¹ Each year almost all of the bill gets paid. A small part is paid late. Unpaid tax stays tied to the property until it is paid, along with penalties and interest.³

Layer 2: The numbers

School year	Tax billed	Paid that year	Paid so far
2015-16	$273.8 million	99.54%	99.96%
2018-19	$370.4 million	99.56%	99.94%
2021-22	$432.4 million	99.38%	99.90%
2022-23	$516.7 million	99.13%	99.85%
2023-24	$451.4 million	98.95%	99.76%
2024-25	$473.5 million	99.02%	99.02%

These figures come from the district’s yearly audit.¹ The “paid so far” share is lowest for the newest year because late payments are still coming in.

Unpaid taxes from all years were about $4.1 million in mid-2016 and $8.7 million in mid-2025.² That is about 1.5% of the 2015-16 bill and about 1.8% of the 2024-25 bill. (Our math.)⁴

Layer 3: How to read it (the other side)

• The bill fell in 2023-24. That was not a collection problem. In 2023 the state raised the school homestead exemption to $100,000 and cut school tax rates.⁵ See homestead exemption effect.
• The newest year has had the least time to collect. Only about 1% of the 2024-25 bill was still unpaid on June 30, 2025, and more will come in later.¹
• The unpaid pile grew, but so did the bill. The bill grew about 73% from 2015-16 to 2024-25. The unpaid total grew faster, about 112%. (Our math.)¹²⁴
• Some unpaid tax is on hold, not lost. For example, people 65 or older or disabled can put off paying the tax on their home. The tax still builds up interest while it is put off.³

Questions to ask

• How much of the unpaid balance is tax put off by older or disabled owners, by the district’s count?
• Does the district have its own collection-lawyer contract?

Changes to this page

• Nov. 2, 2026: We changed wording so it says no more than our sources show.
• Nov. 2, 2026: Revised the questions to ask after a second review.
• Nov. 2, 2026: Added questions to ask.
• Nov. 2, 2026: Added a note that shows how we worked out the figures.
• Nov. 2, 2026: We re-checked the figures. We cut an other-side point that had no source.

What happens when a tax bill is late

School taxes are due by Jan. 31. After that, state law adds:³

• a penalty of 6% in February, plus 1% more each month, up to 12% on July 1;
• interest of 1% a month for as long as the tax is unpaid;
• in some cases, an extra fee to pay a collection lawyer, starting July 1.

If you can’t pay on time, ask your county tax office about payment plans before July 1. People 65 or older, disabled people, and some veterans may be able to put off paying or pay in parts.³

What you can do or watch next

• Check your own bill with your county tax office.
• Watch the next yearly audit (last year’s came to the board in Nov. 2025) to see if the unpaid total keeps growing.

What we still don’t know

• How much of the unpaid balance is from tax put off by people 65 or older or disabled.
• Whether the district has its own collection-lawyer contract, or uses the county’s.

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

Footnotes

1. Leander ISD, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report 2025, Table 11, “Property Tax Levies and Collections,” page 1 of 2 (source given there: Williamson and Travis County Tax Offices). School year = fiscal year ending June 30 (Aug. 31 before 2020). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. Same report, Table 11, page 2 of 2, “Outstanding Tax Balances at Fiscal Year End.” Percentages are our math. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. Texas Tax Code §31.02 (due date), §33.01 (penalty and interest), §33.02 (payment plans for late taxes), §33.06 (putting off taxes for people 65 or older or disabled), §33.07 (collection fee), §32.01 (tax lien on the property). Texas Legislature, statutes.capitol.texas.gov. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

4. Our math from Table 11. Unpaid: $4,111,808 (2016) and $8,711,983 (2025). Bills: $273,848,686 (2015-16) and $473,524,361 (2024-25). $4,111,808 ÷ $273,848,686 = 1.50%. $8,711,983 ÷ $473,524,361 = 1.84%. Bill growth: $473,524,361 ÷ $273,848,686 = 1.73, up 73%. Unpaid growth: $8,711,983 ÷ $4,111,808 = 2.12, up 112%. ↩ ↩²

5. Texas Comptroller, Fiscal Notes, Dec. 2023, on Proposition 4 (2023): homestead exemption raised to $100,000 and school rates cut by $0.107. See homestead exemption effect. ↩