(The Center Square) – More than 100 local bond and tax increase proposals are on the Nov. 7 ballot submitted by Texas cities, counties and public-school independent school districts. Early voting started Oct. 23.
At least 86 ISDs are asking voters to approve permanent tax increases outright or to authorize increasing taxes to issue bonds and commit to decades of debt and interest payments. The combined principal amount alone totals at least over $17 billion statewide, but with interest and previous debt included, the actual cost is estimated to be far more.
“In Texas, we have bond elections twice a year and always have dozens of taxing entities running a bond,” Amy Hedtke, a leader with Texans for Freedom, told The Center Square. “There are over 1,000 ISDs in Texas and they each run bonds typically every five to 10 years. This decades-old cash-cow for construction and architect companies is exacerbated by the fiscal bloat of a government project that has access to taxpayer money ‘without limit as to rate or amount,’” she said, referring to the authorization in the bond order, a legal contract, voters are asked to approve that says the ISD can tax “without limit as to rate or amount.”
The Texas Association of School Boards has for decades helped ISDs “successfully pass” school bonds.
“Bonds are an important tool for districts seeking to update facilities, but with support wavering in recent years, districts need to be strategic in how they approach these elections,” the association states on its website. “Focusing on getting your ‘yes’ voters to turn out is often a more effective strategy for passing a bond than trying to change the minds of ‘no’ voters. If you can get your staff and their spouses, school volunteers, parents, and students who are of voting age out to the polls, you have a much better chance of getting your bond passed,” it recommends.
Texans for Freedom is working with taxpayers to oppose bond proposals, having launched an advocacy campaign called, “It’s ok to vote ‘no.’”
“It’s one thing to know there is a tax we can’t stop, like existing property taxes,” she told The Center Square. “It’s another thing to vote to authorize an additional tax on yourself, your neighbors, future residents, and students who after they graduate will still owe debt on the bonds. Property taxes are already too high, bonds add generational debt.”
“Nearly all the bonds are a 40-year authorization to tax without limit to pay off the debt,” she added. “That means a kindergartner will owe debt their parents or grandparents saddle them with if they vote to pass these bonds.”
Texas property taxes are the sixth highest in the country for many reasons, including bond and tax policies that have been the norm for decades, critics argue. In the last two legislative sessions, the legislature responded to voter demands to reduce property taxes. Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law this year historic property tax relief. It includes compressing the school district maintenance and operation (M&O) tax rate and increasing the homestead exemption, among other provisions.
Property tax owners may not see relief where taxing authorities haven’t cut spending and put a VATRE (Voter Approved Tax Ratification Election) on the ballot, authorizing a permanent M&O tax rate hike, Hedtke and others say.
VATRE, or “Darth Vader,” as Hedtke pronounces it, referring to the villain in the Star Wars series, “need to be voted down and districts need to be held accountable. The VATREs are often presented to the public in such a way that voters are led to believe they are not a tax but are just extra money from the state, when they are a permanent property tax increase.”
Some ISDs have proposed bonds and VATREs on the Nov. 7 ballot. Some ballots have multiple jurisdictions (city, county and ISD) proposing bonds and VATREs, so some voters will decide on multiple tax hikes on the same ballot.
The highest ISD bond proposals are Prosper ISD’s $2.8 billion in Collin and Denton counties, Conroe ISD’s $1.99 billion in Montgomery County, Aldine ISD’s $1.8 billion in Harris County, Midland ISD’s $1.4 billion in Midland County, and Lewisville ISD’s $1.2 billion plus VATRE in Denton and Tarrant counties.
Mary Lowe, co-director of Families Engaged, an organization that advocates for teachers, students and parents, says throwing more money at a failed education system hasn’t and won’t solve Texas’ education crisis. The overwhelming majority of students, 70%, are failing at their grade level in reading and math. The statewide average of Texas students who are proficient at reading and math at their grade level is only 30%.
She also notes disadvantaged students comprise between 30% and 50% of the student body in some ISDs where high bonds have been proposed, meaning low-income families could be disproportionately impacted.
“Citizens should ask why the solution always seems to be to spend more money at the taxpayer’s expense with no accountability and no return on their investment,” she told The Center Square. “Students do not need flashy, Taj Mahal buildings in order to receive a quality education. Families Engaged believes in restoring what education is intended to be, which is reading, writing and math. No additional funding should be given at any level [in the education system] until taxpayers are assured core knowledge is acquired by all students, not below 30% in all cases.”
“We can’t expect people who can’t read and write to absorb a future debt,” she adds.
There is no official statewide list of tax hikes on ballots. Hedtke and others are urging taxpayers to contact their county elections office for a sample ballot to learn what tax hike, if any, is on it. The Nov. 7 ISD/VATRE bond list she compiled is not exhaustive and only represents the principal amount. VATRE amounts weren’t available at the time of publication. They are estimated to cost billions of dollars over decades, if approved.
