Some of the fastest-growing school districts in Texas are trying to understand why voters rejected billions of dollars of their bonds amid a rebounding economy.
About three-quarters of the $12 billion of bonds on local ballots Nov. 2 were for schools, with some of the largest proposals coming from prosperous suburban districts.
Before the election, the Texas Bond Review Board listed $10.8 billion of bond proposals. But after results were tabulated, the total was revised to $12.1 billion.
In dollar terms, voters rejected $3.8 billion or 32% of the proposals, according to the listings on the BRB site. By number, 65 of the 174 proposals, or 38%, were defeated.
In the previous Texas bond election, held in May, all of the large bond proposals passed, with just a handful of smaller issues failing. Statewide, the local ballots contained $8.5 billion of bonds.
Some of the largest school proposals on Nov. 2 failed in major suburban districts in the Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin metro areas that typically approve bonds by comfortable margins.
The largest single bond proposal on the ballots, a record $1.2 billion for the Fort Worth ISD, barely passed with a 57-vote margin out of 24,763 cast, according to official results.
Three other Fort Worth ISD bond projects that would have financed performing arts and athletic facilities worth about $300 million were soundly defeated.
By contrast, Fort Worth ISD’s last major bond election in 2017 for $750 million passed with a more than 70% approval.
FWISD school board members canvassed the results Nov. 11, unanimously making them official without comment.
But residents of the district voiced opposition to the bonds, chastising the board and seeking to hold passage of the $1.2 billion Proposition A in abeyance.
“We do not trust you with our money or our children,” said Holly Clemens, a mother of three. “Fifty-seven votes is not enough of a margin for you in good conscience to certify Prop A. We can’t afford it. You lied when you said it wasn’t a tax increase. You misled voters.”
Under a new state law, ballots seeking approval of bonds must carry the warning: “This is a tax increase,” even if the tax rate stays the same.
Bond supporters touted the fact that the tax rate would not change as a result of passage. But speakers at the Nov. 10 meeting disparaged those efforts.
“Billion-dollar tax increases should not be allowed to pass if the margin is this small,” Fort Worth resident Angie Blake said of Prop A. “By no means can you conclude that the results of this election reflect the community’s blessings of this amount of debt.”
Other speakers identified mask mandates, the Critical Race Theory dispute and school performance as factors in their opposition.
“What really got me the most upset was looking at the performance of the students of the Fort Worth ISD,” said district parent Mario Rodriguez. “What really got me upset was the fact that you wanted $1.5 billion. The fact that three of those propositions failed and you got your $1.2 billion, I don’t see that as a victory. I see that as you all getting what you don’t deserve.”
In the booming suburbs north of Austin, voters in the Leander ISD rejected $738 million of bonds designed to keep up with growth.
“We didn’t just see the bond issue fail, we saw a significant deterioration — in about 90 days — in confidence in the district, district leadership, this team of eight,” LISD trustee Aaron Johnson said at a board meeting where the results were canvassed.
“I think we have to own that,” he said. “In a 90-day period, it wasn’t just a concern about the language of the ballot initiative, it was about us. It was about the product we’re delivering to the community or the perception of that product. We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to our community to dig deeply into the reasons behind that.”
The average home price in Leander increased 38% in October compared to a year earlier, according to the Austin Board of Realtors. Property taxes increase with home values even if the rate stays the same.
In fall 2020, Leander ISD’s demographer expressed the need for nine new schools to serve 12,400 additional students in the next decade. The district has 13 schools with roofing, HVAC, and other major systems scheduled for replacement in the next three years.
After the bond setback, the district has the option to call for another election in May.
“Growth continues across Leander ISD,” Superintendent Bruce Gearing said in a statement announcing the election results before they became official. “We have to re-engage our community to determine our next steps for supporting more students and taking care of our existing schools. As a public institution, we serve at the direction of our community.”
Neighboring Georgetown ISD in the Williamson County seat saw three bond proposals worth $32 million rejected.
About 60 miles north of Austin, Temple ISD saw its $178 million bond proposal fail by two votes. The final margin registered by the county was even narrower than the three-vote difference reported Nov. 3.
The district’s Proposition A would have raised the tax rate by 12 cents per $100 of property value, the district said. It would have gone toward facility upgrades at every campus.
A second bond proposal for TISD, Proposition B for $6.6 million of issuance, was rejected with 59% against and 41% in favor. That measure would have gone toward upgrades for Wildcat Stadium.
Bonds for stadiums and athletic facilities fared poorly across the state and have become increasingly difficult to pass in recent years. Under a 2019 state law, athletic facility bonds must be listed separately from school bonds.
In the rapidly growing Comal ISD in the San Antonio suburb of New Braunfels, voters approved $411 million for school buildings and security but rejected $20 million for a stadium and $35 million for technology.
In the affluent Allen ISD north of Dallas, voters rejected $24 million for stadiums and athletic facilities. Allen ISD gained national attention in 2012 with a $60 million stadium and an association with the Dallas Cowboys. The stadium later had to be shut down for repairs after cracks were discovered in the concrete.
In the Houston area, voters in Cleveland ISD voters rejected $150 million of bonds earmarked for growth, while voters in the Santa Fe ISD in Galveston County shunned $110 million of bonds.
In another Houston-area district, voters in Tomball ISD approved two of five bond propositions on the Nov. 2 ballot, allotting funds for a third high school, two elementary schools, an intermediate school and other district improvements valued at $494.46 million.
However, funding for athletics upgrades, a natatorium and three multi-use facilities was rejected.
Tomball expects 5.9% enrollment growth year over year in 2021-22, according to a spring 2021 demographics report, but district officials reported more than 8% growth as of late October. The district had surpassed 20,000 students as of Oct. 29, more than a year ahead of projections.
