Corrections

(DRAFT – not published. Placeholder.)

Our promise

If we get something wrong, we fix it fast. We do not hide the fix.

How we fix things

1. We check the record again.
2. If we were wrong, we fix the page.
3. We add a note at the bottom of the page. It says what changed and when.
4. Big fixes also go on this page.

Tell us about a mistake

Email corrections@thepublicmath.com. We reply within 3 business days. We read every report and note each fix on the page it affects.

Please tell us the page, the number or line, and the record that shows the right answer.

Fixes so far

Date	Page	What we said	What we say now	Why
Nov. 2, 2026	Academic claims	Said a parent raised the fail-rate claim at a February 2026 board meeting	Says we searched the meeting transcripts and did not find the figure	Our search did not back up the meeting detail
Nov. 2, 2026	Do most Leander households own or rent?	Leander has more owners than the county or nearby cities	More owners than the county, Cedar Park or Round Rock; the gap with Georgetown may not be real	The survey margins of error for Leander and Georgetown overlap
Nov. 2, 2026	Did Leander spend what it budgeted in 2024-25?	Going over budget in one area is allowed as long as the main fund stays under its total	The audit flags the public safety overrun; we no longer describe a budget rule	The audit does not state that rule
Nov. 2, 2026	How much property tax does Leander pay back to developers?	One rebate amount might be for the wrong year	The city report’s year label on that amount is a typo; it is for the same year as the others	The three deals listed in the same report add up to that amount for the later year
Nov. 1, 2026	Who are Williamson County’s biggest employers?	The county report’s job totals “look odd” and may use different sources	The 2016 total counts working residents; the 2025 total counts jobs in the county. See the page for a like-for-like count.	Federal labor data showed the two totals measure different things
Nov. 1, 2026	What do the city’s reports say about jobs and income in Leander?	”Two county reports” gave different income numbers “for the same year”	One report is the city’s. The two figures are different measures over different years. Added Leander-only Census numbers.	The wording was not accurate
Nov. 2, 2026	Why did Taylor ISD’s property value jump?	The 2025 values in the table, and that more than half of the five-year jump came in one year	The 2025 values now include tax-deal property the appraisal file lists on separate lines. About a third of the jump came in the last year.	The 2025 table left out property listed on separate lines
Nov. 2, 2026	Homes, business and farm land: what makes up the county’s value?	The newest business equipment total, compared with earlier years	That total looks incomplete, so we no longer compare it	One large school district’s row in the appraisal sheet shows almost no business equipment
Nov. 2, 2026	How much does Williamson County owe?	County debt rose every year after its low point	It rose in most years after its low point, with a small dip one year	The state’s yearly debt data show one year with slightly less debt owed
Nov. 2, 2026	Leander’s tax rate	The city collects more mainly because new homes and businesses were added	About half of the increase comes from new property; the rest from property already taxed	The city’s adopted budget gives the split
Nov. 2, 2026	2019 road bond scorecard	Gave a count of cost-raising changes on one project and a share of one contract already billed	Both removed; report figures we read online but could not save are now labeled that way	Our saved notes did not match the count, and we could not save the report to check either figure
Nov. 2, 2026	Interest	The district paid its 2025-26 interest and loan amounts	Those are the amounts its debt schedule set for 2025-26	The report we cite is a schedule made before the year began, not a record of payments
Nov. 2, 2026	Growing loans	Credited the growing-loan share of yearly interest to the district’s audit	That share is our own count from the bond documents	The audit page gives only the total interest
Nov. 2, 2026	Refinancing	Some older bonds were paid off on a set date in 2026	The bond document set that date for the payoff	We have no saved record of the payoff itself
Nov. 2, 2026	Debt	The value of the district’s buildings and land	The value of its buildings, land and equipment	The audit’s figure counts equipment and vehicles too
Nov. 2, 2026	How to protest your appraisal	Protest within 30 days after your notice arrives	Protest within 30 days after your notice is mailed	State guidance counts from the mailing date
Nov. 2, 2026	Your property tax calendar	Protest within 30 days after your notice arrives	Protest within 30 days after your notice is mailed	State guidance counts from the mailing date
Nov. 2, 2026	Early payoffs	The cash and fees made up all the line spent	The cash and fees made up most of what the line spent	The two parts do not add up to the whole line
Nov. 2, 2026	Bond	Gave the month and the number of ballot items for the 2023 bonds	Gives the year only	The cited page gives the total, not the month or item count
Nov. 2, 2026	Board of trustees	Said trustees are unpaid volunteers	Line removed	Our sources do not show trustee pay
Nov. 2, 2026	Academic claims	Compared IB cuts to spending without naming the base, and said the board never voted on IB alone	Names the base and source, and says we found no such vote	The base was missing and the note only shows no vote was found
Nov. 2, 2026	School taxes collected	Said almost everyone pays	Says almost all of the tax gets paid	The data counts dollars, not people
Nov. 2, 2026	K-3 reading	Guessed at a cause for a dip in scores	Line removed	Our sources do not show the cause
Nov. 2, 2026	Buses	Said some walks may be safer now	Says what the district reported about safe routes	The packet states it directly
Nov. 2, 2026	Consultants: open questions	Said we were asking the district and that a contract seemed to have run out	States the contract terms; line about asking removed	We had not sent a request
Nov. 2, 2026	Student counts	Gave a reason the two counts differ	Says only that they differ	Our sources do not give the reason
Nov. 2, 2026	Emergency services districts	Said most city homes are not in an ESD	Says the city fire department serves city limits	The cited source did not say that
Nov. 2, 2026	Why Taylor ISD value jumped	Said big projects caused the jump	Says it came from higher value per property	The property count shows only that
Nov. 2, 2026	City staff over ten years	Said a peer city needs more workers	Says its count includes electric workers	The source shows the count, not the need
Nov. 2, 2026	Attendance and absences	Gave a reason for a low year and said attendance beat the state every year	Reason replaced with the state rate; every-year claim limited to chronic absence	Our sources do not show the reason or the state rate for most years
Nov. 2, 2026	Bond adviser contract	Said most Texas districts use an outside adviser on open-ended contracts	Line removed	Our sources do not show it
Nov. 2, 2026	Committees	Said the board makes every final decision in a public vote	Says items that need board approval go to a public vote	Smaller items do not need a board vote
Nov. 2, 2026	Oct. 15 council meeting	Said waiting to expand the water plant could lead to water limits	Says the expansion adds treatment capacity	The packet does not forecast water limits
Nov. 2, 2026	2019 road bond scorecard	Said rising costs meant the bond money was not enough	States the later short-term borrowing without a cause	The records we cite do not give that reason
Nov. 2, 2026	What the appraisal district costs	Said most of the budget growth came from more work	Shows the protest counts and the district’s own reason	We had no source splitting the growth by cause
Nov. 2, 2026	How much tax gets collected	Said most unpaid tax is paid in later years	Says unpaid tax stays tied to the property and gains penalties until paid	We had no source for the share paid later
Nov. 2, 2026	Council voting record	Said new members often vote differently and splits are normal in fast-growing cities	Points to the page’s own list of growth cases	We had no source for those general claims
Nov. 2, 2026	What the appraisal district costs	Guessed what made up the gap in the city’s budget line	Says the budget does not split the line	The budget does not show the parts
Nov. 2, 2026	City retiree benefits	Called the cost small for a city budget	Gives our cost estimate without a size judgment	We had not compared it with the budget on a like-for-like basis
Nov. 2, 2026	City budget 2026-27	Gave our best guess that last year’s extra spending was savings sent to building projects	States what the budget shows and that it does not say what the money paid for	The budget does not support a cause
Nov. 2, 2026	Water and sewer fund health	Named a likely reason two debt figures differ	States the related budget fact with no cause	No city document gives the reason
Nov. 2, 2026	Staffing	Gave guesses about how staff were coded and counted	States the data and says the cause is not shown	The public data do not give a cause
Nov. 2, 2026	After the ARB: appeals	Said most owners settle at the protest stage	Line removed	No source on the page supported it
Nov. 2, 2026	City population growth	Gave a reason the city’s count runs higher	Says the audit does not explain its number	The reason was not sourced
Nov. 2, 2026	Teacher experience	Gave our guess about why average experience jumped	States the facts and says the reports do not explain it	The cause was not sourced
Nov. 2, 2026	Graduation and dropouts	Said districts with fewer low-income students often have higher rates	Line removed	No source on the page supported it
Nov. 2, 2026	Water and sewer	Said the sewer discount amount was not confirmed	Gives the discount from the city’s billing page	The city’s billing page states it
Nov. 2, 2026	Twenty percent cap ends in 2027	Gave our own reading of cost shifts and rents	Those lines removed	They were not measured or sourced
Nov. 2, 2026	Farm and ranch land valuation	Guessed how the county would set its rate	Says the figure does not show what other owners pay	The guess was not sourced
Nov. 2, 2026	County workforce	Gave possible reasons jail staffing barely grew	Says the budget does not say why	The reasons were not sourced
Nov. 2, 2026	County retirement plan	Gave possible reasons the county’s share is lower	Says the shares are not like-for-like	The reasons were not sourced
Nov. 2, 2026	Closure savings	Said estimates often drop as plans firm up	Line removed	No source supported it
Nov. 2, 2026	Spending per student nearby	Guessed the district chose more staff over raises	Line removed	The guess was not sourced
Nov. 2, 2026	Public safety vs. peer cities	Gave possible reasons for lower spending	Says the audits do not say why	The reasons were not sourced
Nov. 2, 2026	City workload over ten years	Guessed why police calls per resident fell	Says the table does not explain its methods	The guess was not sourced
Nov. 4, 2026	How to protest your appraisal	Said there was no data on protest results by who filed	Gives 2026 results for agent and owner protests	The appraisal district’s open data has them
Nov. 5, 2026	Where your tax bill goes	Rounded the emergency services district rate up to a round number	Uses one named district’s actual published rate and shows the range	The rounded rate was a little high

Changes to this page

• Nov. 5, 2026: Corrections email set to corrections@thepublicmath.com (mailbox not live yet).
• Nov. 5, 2026: We added a fix to the list.
• Nov. 4, 2026: We added a fix to the list.
• Nov. 2, 2026: We added a fix to the list.
• Nov. 2, 2026: We added how to report an error.