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In June 2021, Royal ISD leveraged a low interest rate environment to the tune of $2,651,131 in savings, which will allow the district to pay existing bonds back a total of 15 years early (see below for details). The district was able to secure an interest rate of 1.82% (down from 4% in the 2013-series bonds and 3.5-4% in the 2014-series bonds). School districts utilize refundings when bonds outstanding are eligible to be replaced with lower interest rate bonds, saving local taxpayers future interest on the bonds.

Royal ISD is committed to responsible management of public funds and to aggressively paying off existing debt. Royal’s progress on debt repayment is as follows:

·         2013 series previously went through 2035 and now goes through 2028 (savings of 7 years)

·         2014 series previously went through 2037 and now goes through 2030 (savings of 7 years)

·         2015 series previously went through 2039 and now goes through 2038 (savings of 1 year)

Please CLICK HERE to view an updated overview of the district’s current debt as well as the debt per capita. Royal ISD’s actual debt per capita is $5,222. The source of this information is the Texas Comptroller’s guidance from House Bill 1378. Based on the Comptroller’s “Debt at a Glance” information for all Texas Independent School Districts, Royal ISD has one of the lowest per capita thresholds in the state.

RISD Financial Advisor Lucas Janda said, “The Royal ISD Board of Trustees is committed to implementing strong financial practices. It is their diligence in careful financial planning that has allowed the district to take advantage of this opportunity to save taxpayer dollars. The 2021 refunding resulted in a significant decrease in the future debt service amounts.”

In a fast-growth community like Royal ISD, the balance between retiring debt early and ensuring their capacity to fund student needs while staying mindful of the tax impact on taxpayers can be quite difficult when coupled with future unknowns such as property values and interest rates. However, conservative debt strategies over the years has well positioned RISD to embrace their vision of “investing in our tomorrow”.

Royal Bond 2023 is not projected to result in a tax rate increase. Over 65 homeowners with paperwork on file with the county remain frozen and are not impacted by the bond. Most importantly, Royal ISD has lowered the tax tate from $1.5288 in 2018/19 to the current rate of $1.3017.