Bells ISD
Grayson County, TX · Rural · grades PK–12 · 1,007 students across 3 schools
- Spends $12,232 per student in operating costs — $13,045 once local price levels are accounted for.
- 67.2% of every operating dollar reaches instruction.
- 39.4% of revenue is raised locally, mostly from property tax.
The money
| Per student, as reported | $12,232 |
|---|---|
| Per student, price-adjusted Divided by the local BEA price level, so it can be set against a district anywhere else. | $13,045 |
| Per student, excluding transport | $12,737 |
| Capital spending per student Buildings and land. Lumpy by nature. | Locked |
| Total revenue | Locked |
| Total current spending | Locked |
| Local price level (US = 100) Metro-area index. | 93.8 |
Where the money goes
- Instruction 64.4% Locked
- Instructional staff support 2.8% Locked
- Student support 3.3% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 11.3% Locked
- Transportation 2.4% Locked
- Food service 4.8% Locked
- School administration 4.7% Locked
- District administration 3.3% Locked
- Other support 1.9% Locked
- Other current 5.0% Locked
What the money buys
| Students per teacher A staffing ratio, not an average class size. Real classes are larger than this everywhere. | 12.3 |
|---|---|
| Students per counsellor | Locked |
| Cents of each operating dollar reaching classrooms | 67.2% |
| Administration share | 8.0% |
| Child poverty rate Census SAIPE estimate for children 5–17 inside the district boundary. | 7.6% |
| Enrolment change, 5 years | +13.8% |
Stability and risk
- High debt burden More than 10% of total spending goes to interest and debt retirement, money that cannot reach a classroom.
Against the rest of TX
| Bells ISD | TX average | |
|---|---|---|
| Per student, as reported | $12,232 | $15,352 |
| Reaching classrooms | 67.2% | 60.1% |
| Local share of revenue | 39.4% | 45.7% |
Average across 1028 TX districts we hold scores for, unweighted by size.
Districts most like this one
Nearest neighbours on size, setting, poverty and grade span — not on spending. These are the fair comparisons, so we made each one a link.
Enrolling a child
Read off this district’s own enrolment page. Every “required” below links to the sentence it came from.
Is a seat at your zoned school guaranteed?
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction, and we have read only a fraction of the ones that do. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
- This is the district’s own published wording, not our summary of it. Policies are rewritten between enrolment seasons and a page can be out of date the day after we read it — the school office is the only authority on whether a particular grade at a particular school is full right now.
- A warning here is about capacity, not about your address. It does not mean your child will be moved; it means the district has told you in writing that it may move them.
- Required the page says so, and the sentence is quoted.
- Mentioned only it comes up, but not as a requirement — often a sentence saying the district cannot demand it.
- Not mentioned we read the page and it was not on it. That is not the same as "not required".
- Page not read we have no enrolment page for this district.
Documents to bring
| Bells ISD | |
|---|---|
| Proof of residency | Required “Proof of residency within BISD boundaries should be one of the following utility bills connected to the address:” |
| Proof of age (usually a birth certificate) | Required “Birth Certificate” |
| Immunisation records | Required “Immunization Record” |
| Physical examination | Not mentioned |
| Dental, vision or hearing screening | Not mentioned |
| Tuberculosis test | Not mentioned |
| Records from the previous school | Required “Previous School Records:” |
| IEP or 504 plan | Not mentioned |
| Custody or guardianship paperwork | Not mentioned |
| Parent or guardian photo ID | Required “(Cellular phone bills will not be accepted) Parent(s) or Guardian(s) official ID or Driver's license (address must match proof of residency address)” |
| Home language survey | Not mentioned |
| Emergency contact information | Not mentioned |
| Proof of income | Not mentioned |
| Social security number Asked for by some districts. It is not required to enrol, and a school may not refuse a child who does not provide one. We list it because districts ask, not because you must answer. | Required Social security number (see note) “Social Security Card” |
How enrolling works
Locked 11 steps of the enrolment process — deadlines, appointments, proof of residency — are not shown. What to bring is above, and stays free.
- A blank row means the requirement did not appear on the page we read. It does not mean the district will not ask for it — published lists are routinely incomplete, and the registrar has the final word.
- Requirements change every enrolment season. Check the district’s own page, linked above, before you gather anything.
- A district cannot condition enrolment on your child’s immigration status: under Plyler v. Doe (1982) every child resident in the district is entitled to a free public education. If a district asks for something that would reveal status, you are not obliged to provide it.
- If your family is in temporary or shared housing, the McKinney-Vento Act lets a child enrol immediately without the residency and records documents listed here. Ask for the district’s homeless liaison by name.
Who decides, and what it costs you
Every band above this one asks what this district spends. This one asks who chose to.
Bells ISD
The district levies its own school tax
This district raises property tax in its own name. Who sets the rate varies by state — an elected board in some, a public vote in others — but the levy is the school system’s own, and it is the part of a tax bill that school politics moves most directly.
| Bells ISD | |
|---|---|
| School property tax levied, per student Only for districts that levy in their own name. Blank where the county or town levies instead — see the cards above, and read the next row. | $4,397 |
| Appropriated by the county or town, per student What the parent government handed the schools, for dependent systems. This is a general appropriation, not solely property tax. | — |
| Property tax as a share of all revenue How much of the budget rides on local property values, and therefore on local votes. | 24.3% |
| Long-term debt already owed, per student The balance at the end of the year, for scale. Repaid over decades, so it is a commitment made by earlier boards rather than a bill arriving now. | Locked |
| Debt service as a share of spending Interest plus principal repaid this year, against total spending. This is the part of the debt that is being paid now, out of money that would otherwise reach a classroom. | Locked |
| New long-term debt issued, per student Money borrowed during fiscal year 2024, as reported to the federal survey. What this figure does and does not tell you is set out under the table. | $0 |
- Bells ISD: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- A figure in the borrowing row is not a bond voters approved. The federal survey records debt issued, and that includes refinancing existing debt at a new rate — which changes nothing about what a district owes — as well as certificates of participation and lease-revenue debt, which in many states a board can issue with no referendum at all. To find out what was actually on a ballot, check the county election office.
- Debt is repaid over decades. A large balance per student is a commitment made by earlier boards and earlier voters, not a bill arriving this year. The debt service row above it is the part being paid now.
Who sits on the board
Bells ISD board of education
- Dr. Dava Washburn — President
- Matt Stephens — Vice President
- Lonnie Carter — Secretary
- Members are elected: “The Bells ISD Board of Trustees consists of seven board members who are elected by the general public.”
- How long a term runs: “Board members serve overlapping three-year terms and elections for board seats are conducted annually each May.”
- The public may speak: “Draft Board Minutes Board of Trustees Training School Board Elections Public Comment”
Read from the district’s own board page on 2026-08-24. Boards change; the district’s page is the current record, not ours.
Funding measures on the ballot
Bells ISD
$45.6M approved by voters across 6 measures.
| Election | Measure | Amount | Yes | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-05-06 | Bond · Prop. 1 School Building |
$24.8M | 60.3% | Passed |
Locked 6 earlier measures in this district’s history are not shown.
From the state’s own election results file. Latest election on record: 2026-05-02.
What this state publishes: Bond elections only. Texas districts also ask voters to raise the maintenance-and-operations tax rate, and the Bond Review Board does not record those.
- A vote share is not an outcome. What it takes to carry varies by state and by measure — in some states a bond needs a supermajority and a minimum turnout while a levy on the same ballot needs half, so a clear majority can still lose. Every outcome shown here is copied from the state’s own results file, and the rule that applied is stated with the coverage above. Where that file stated no outcome we show the vote share and no verdict, rather than working one out from the percentage.
- These are the measures a district put to its voters, not its whole tax bill. A property tax bill also carries county, city and state levies that have nothing to do with schools, and in most states a school board can issue some kinds of debt with no vote at all.
Unlock every figure for Bells ISD
The verdict, the headline dollar, the funding shares, who is served and every comparability caveat are free above, and stay free. What is behind the lock is the detail you would want before acting on any of it:
- capital spending per student, total revenue and total current spending
- the ten-line per-student breakdown of where the money goes
- counsellor and administrator ratios, and the total salary bill
- the enrolment process — deadlines, appointments and proof of residency
- the debt behind the risk flags — per student, and as a share of spending
- the full ballot history: 6 more bonds and levies, with the amounts
$7 a month for every district in the country.
One payment, no account to create. Buy on the web and the iPhone app unlocks with the same receipt.