Trustees of the North East Independent School District decided last week to postpone an election set for May 14 for a proposed $399.4 million general obligation bond package due to uncertainties over state aid to public education over the next two years.
Superintendent Richard Middleton told trustees that it would be more prudent to hold a November election on the proposal. The San Antonio-area district will not have a good idea about how much state funding to expect until May, he said.
The Texas Legislature is considering budget bills that could cut state aid in fiscal 2012-13 by $10 billion from current spending.
“We have no idea about what’s going to happen to us with this Legislature,” Middleton said. He said the district might have to cut its proposed budget for next year by $86 million to $50 million, depending on how much money it would receive from the state.
Susan Galindo, vice president of the district’s board, said the committee that put together the bond package had assumed the level of state funding would have been set before the May bond election.
She said the board may call an election in November on the deferred proposal.
The district’s $1.3 billion of outstanding GO debt is rated Aa1 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA-minus by Standard & Poor’s. It has triple-A coverage from the Texas Permanent School Fund.
The district is the second largest in Bexar County and the eighth largest in Texas.
