KINGSVILLE, Texas — Kingsville Independent School District officials are planning significant budget cuts after voters rejected the VATRE , which was designed to address the district’s $4.2 million budget deficit.

The Voter Approval Tax Ratification Election (VATRE) failed to pass during Tuesday’s election, with 786 votes (60.60%) against and 511 votes (39.40%) in favor of the measure.

The proposition would have lowered the interest and sinking tax rate by 3.17 cents while increasing the maintenance and operations tax rate by the same amount, resulting in no net change to the overall school tax rate.

Dr. Peter Pitts, KISD's chief financial officer, said there are a couple of reasons why he believes the VATRE did not pass.

"Everybody did not get to the polls, not all of our parents

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