Cedar Hill School Board Approves 4 Cent Tax Hike

Community Strategic Plan Committee Supports Future Bond Idea

By Ramona Logan

Cedar Hill, TX. - August 10, 2010 - The Cedar Hill School Board unanimously approved a 4 cent increase in the property tax rate increase in the Interest and Sinking tax rate for paying off bonds, for a total tax rate of $1.44 per $100.00 valuation.  "The district property tax valuation decreased by 5.5 percent from the previous year," explained Mike McSwain, Chief Financial Officer for the district.

Cedar Hill ISD Strategic Plan committee presented the school board Monday night an industrious plan to turn the CHISD into a world class school district. The main strategic plan committee of 26 people and several action plan committees, involving some 325 educators and community members ranged in age from 16 to 80.  "We spent some 10,000 volunteer hours developing this strategic plan over the past year," said Billie Ballengee, a committee spokesperson.  Ballengee then asked committee members in the audience to stand up and told the board, "As you can see even though we are a very diverse group,  the strategic plan committee approved the plan unanimously."

The committee did not set a price tag for the plan.  Ballengee explains that when the main strategic plan committee discussed ways to fund the plan, no one expressed opposition to either a bond election or a tax rollback program.

The Cedar Hill school board will vote on whether to implement the plan in whole or in part on August 31.  To look at the action plan that was submitted to the school board visit www.chisd.com

There you will find the mission statement, beliefs, parameters, objectives, strategies and action result statements that the strategic plan committee developed.