Houston ISD proposed the largest school bond in Texas history — what to know before voting
By Asher Lehrer-Small,
25 days ago
Voters in Houston ISD will answer a $4.4 billion question this November when they cast ballots on the district’s first school bond proposal since 2012.
District leaders are asking voters to approve the largest school bond in Texas history , allowing HISD to make billions of dollars in upgrades across the district using money from property taxes. The projects include:
rebuilding 22 schools
significantly renovating or expanding another 16 schools
building three new career and technical education centers
adding 4,000 pre-kindergarten seats for 3- and 4-year-olds
Supporters of the bond argue HISD needs to upgrade its outdated buildings after years of neglect, while opponents say the district’s state-appointed superintendent and school board cannot be trusted to manage billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded spending.
The election marks the first opportunity for HISD residents to vote on a major issue since Texas leaders installed Superintendent Mike Miles and replaced the district’s trustees with an unelected board in June 2023.
Here’s everything you need to know before heading to the ballot box.
What is a school bond?
School bonds help districts raise money for big-ticket investments in campus facilities, technology and other items.
When districts hold bond elections, they ask voters to authorize the use of property taxes to borrow money needed for expensive projects, such as constructing new buildings or repairing old ones.
Most large Texas districts hold bond elections roughly every five years. HISD, however, has not done so in 12 years, largely due to fears voters would reject a bond issue because of unstable leadership and the possibility of a state takeover.
AARP is hosting a live telephone town hall on Wednesday, Oct. 2, at 10 a.m. with Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth, and AARP Texas' Associate State Director of Outreach & Advocacy Shondra Wygal. Dial in at (833) 380-0647 for a discussion about the upcoming general election.
The proposed $4.4 billion bond covers projects across all 269 HISD campuses, but elementary and middle schools will see the biggest investment.
HISD’s 2012 bond primarily covered upgrades to high schools, leaving campuses serving the district’s youngest learners in the greatest need of maintenance. Two dozen HISD elementary and middle schools were built in the 1930s or earlier, and some have rats, mold and bathrooms filled with standing water , families have told the Houston Landing.
Under the bond plan, 22 elementary and middle schools would be rebuilt entirely, with three of those campuses — Holland Middle School and Pleasantville and Port Houston elementary schools — receiving new facilities on the current Holland Middle grounds. Another 16 would get renovated or expanded, at a total cost of roughly $2.5 billion.
Eight other schools would move out of their buildings and into another campus, in an arrangement HISD calls “co-location.” Under the plan, the joined schools would operate separately and maintain much of their own staffing, though some may share cafeterias, gymnasiums and other facilities, Miles has said.
The eight schools are:
Blackshear Elementary School, moving to Baylor College of Medicine at Ryan Middle School
Kashmere Gardens Elementary School, moving to Key Middle School
Sanchez Elementary School, moving to Deady Middle School
Isaacs Elementary School, moving to Fleming Middle School
Port Houston and Pleasantville elementary schools, moving to a rebuilt Holland Middle School campus
Edison Middle School, moving to Franklin Elementary School
Project Chrysalis Middle School, which is already co-located with Cage Elementary School, moving to a newly built Cage Elementary campus
The bond package also would devote about $1 billion to expanding pre-kindergarten and career and technical education.
HISD has said it plans to add enough space to take 4,000 more pre-K students, in addition to the roughly 14,000 spaces it already offers.
HISD would add three new career and technical centers similar to HISD’s Barbara Jordan Career Center on the city’s northeast side. The new facilities will be spread across the rest of the district, with one at Jane Long Academy in the Sharpstown area; another at Dodson Elementary School, which closed in 2014, in east downtown; and the last at Grimes Elementary School, which closed in 2011, in southeast Houston.
HISD said it will consult a group of families and business leaders to decide which career paths to offer at the new centers. A district presentation suggested potential fields could include architecture, health sciences, renewable energy and agriculture, among others.
Full details on projects slated for each campus are available in our searchable database .
What will it cost taxpayers?
The district says it will not need to raise its property tax rate, relying instead on rising property values to cover the cost of the bonds.
HISD has said its “Interest & Sinking” property tax rate, which covers bond-related expenses, will stay about 17 cents per $100 of assessed value. That’s about $400 per year for a homeowner whose property is valued at $300,000 with a standard homestead exemption.
A larger tax rate that pays for teacher salaries and other day-to-day costs, known as “Maintenance & Operations,” also would not change.
Like a home mortgage, the full cost of the bond would be much higher than the $4.4 billion face value. With interest included, the bond will cost taxpayers $8.9 billion, to be paid back over three decades, HISD documents show.
In recent months, the bond proposal has gained vocal backers and critics, with dozens of community members sharing their perspectives at recent school board meetings.
Supporters argue HISD has put off much-needed repairs for too long and cannot continue to do so. Several school principals have described campuses in disrepair.
“Every time it rains, it comes in the ceilings, the doors, the windows,” Forest Brook Middle School Principal Alicia Lewis said in August. “Many of our rooms flood to the point that we have to relocate scholars into different learning spaces until the water is removed.”
Without bond money, HISD has to spend more on maintenance costs from its general fund, which pays for day-to-day operations, such as staff salaries.
Meanwhile, opponents of the bond argue they do not trust Miles to responsibly spend billions in taxpayer money. They often cite earlier decisions, such as asking dozens of principals to resign and reducing the number of staff dedicated to supporting students facing poverty-related challenges as reasons they do not have faith in his leadership.
“You have repeatedly lied to our community and gone against promises made,” HISD parent Dawn Elliott said during an August school board meeting. “Please explain why taxpayers should be willing to trust this board to invest in the very public education system you seem so determined to destroy.”
What are its chances of passage?
Two dueling polls released in August cast opposing pictures of the HISD bond’s chances of success, with no clear indication of what to expect on Election Day.
One survey, published in mid-August by Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research, found HISD residents are overwhelmingly willing to support a school bond package that does not raise property tax rates. While it did not ask directly about the actual bond proposal, which hadn’t been finalized at that time, it seemed to spell good news for HISD’s package given that it would not hike rates.
Less than a week later, the Texas American Federation of Teachers published the results of a survey that found a majority of likely voters plan to reject the measure , asking respondents about the bond package as it will appear on ballots.
Rice’s poll received roughly 1,900 responses and used a “panel survey” model, which polls the same people over an extended period of time. The Texas AFT’s poll surveyed fewer people, with 740 participating, though it targeted likely voters. Ultimately, neither provides a definitive picture of how November’s election will play out.
What will it look like on the ballot?
Voters will find HISD’s bond split into two items on their ballots, one for roughly $4 billion and the other for about $400 million.
The larger one, Proposition A, asks voters whether they support paying for construction and upgrades to school buildings. The second item, Proposition B, focuses on technology.
The two measures include language, as required under Texas law, saying the proposals represent property tax increases. However, the statement does not actually mean taxpayers’ rates will increase. Instead, it speaks to the fact that, if the bond does not pass, HISD leaders theoretically could choose to reduce rates in the future.
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