Friday, May 18, 2012
Bond Issues in Texas
We have just recently been through an election process in the State of Texas for funding school capital improvements. Most major building projects in the state are funded through local Independent School Districts (ISD) by issuing the sale of bonds. The bonds must be approved by the voters in the ISD in which they reside.
There were a total of 43 ISD's with elections and 33 passed, a 76.7% passage rate. The total dollar amount of funding that was called was $835,360,000 and the total amount passed was $633,070,000.
In ISD's with less than 5000 students, the number of bond issues called was 38 and 29 passed. Large ISD's with more than 5000 students, the number of bond issues called was 5 and 4 passed.
Even in these difficult economic times, the need for improving school facilities continues. It is apparent that the majority of the voters in the state recognized the need and said yes to improving their local school facilities. State law will only allow bond elections to occur at standard election dates in May and November, so the next round of bonds will be coming during the national election. This may be a difficult time to get voters to say yes to increasing their taxes, time will tell.
Michael D. King AIA
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In the last 12-18 months, I have seen Texas school districts that originally sought voter approval of large bond amounts; however, many bonds requests were not passed. I am pleased to know that schools districts were not deterred by the original bond failure, but pursued additional input from strategic planning teams and the community to compromise for district improvements.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be interesting to know how many of the passed bonds were on their 2nd or 3rd attempt. Also, what strategies did these school districts employ to get the called bond issue passed?
Of the three bond issues that our firm was associated with, 2 of those had failed in recent elections, all three passed. Both of the bond issues that were re-votes down sized the amount of work thus the tax impact as well that they were asking for.
ReplyDeleteI am not surprised that some bond issues are failing given current state of the economy and the unemployment rate. I looked up some statistics online, and the U6 unemployment rate as of April 2012 is 14.3%. The U6 rate is the one that counts not only people without work seeking full-time employment (the more familiar U-3 rate), but also counts marginally attached workers and those working part-time for economic reasons. With all of this in the news, even though typically news agencies report to U3 rate which is around 8%, is hard to imagine people voting for tax increases for any reason, including additional funding for public schools. A 76% passage rate seems good to me. I expect that the challenge is to get the public to understand and agree with the need that the bonds are intended to address. JRacioppi TSU.
ReplyDeleteIts apparent that difficult economic times call for and cause people to "tighten their belts" a bit. Asking citizens for more taxes during a time when inflation and unemployment are both high can be difficult. It is interesting to note that Texas has a 76% passage rate. In agreement with J.Racioppi posts, that seems very positive. Texas has been somewhat immune to the drastic economic problems that many other states have faced. It would be interesting to see observe passage rates between states and its relationship to significant economic indicators within that state.
ReplyDeleteI think we will see a sharp decline in the total number of bond issues this coming November from what we had this past May due to the Presidential election. Districts will need to be extra diligent in getting their message out because the overriding issue of the state of our national economy. This will be a difficult message to overcome.
DeleteI teach 7th grade Math at the Dublin Junior High where we have tried to get a bond passed to build a new junior high. The building we are in was built in 1913. We have tried twice in the last two years, but it has been denied because many are afraid of their taxes going up. Unfortunately we lost a low interest loan and the taxes were only going to increase by a small amount.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I live in rural, North Central Texas and pay taxes in a 2A district. The district has historically had difficulty passing bond elections even as the plaster for the ceilings in the century old building fell on the students' desks. Two decades ago, when I first moved to the area I remember the scare tactics used to prevent the bond election from passing with opponents even going to the extreme to taxi van loads of folks from the nursing homes to the polling places with the specific purpose of voting no because their taxes would be increased. The news coverage of a more recent bond election erroneously reported an exorbitant property tax increase on the front page of the local weekly paper only to print a retraction on the back page the next week saying that the figure was incorrect. Of course the damage had been done and the Superintendent made a valiant attempt to interrupt Wednesday and Sunday services before the election to try and do damage control to no avail. School districts should educate the public about the need for facilities long before the plaster falls from the ceiling, but that should also take care of business in the classroom. A bond election is a hard sell with the fear of high property taxes,but it is an even harder sell when the campuses are academically unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteThere are many tactics that an organized 'vote no' campaign can do. We had a district in west Texas that a vote no group published a caracture of an old one room school house that had tears in its eyes with a caption that said "they are going to tear me down!". This was very far from the truth, the district had no intention of tearing down this school building. An intense effort was made to ovrecome this message and in this case, they were successful. We always recommend getting the yes vote out, as we have found that it is time better spent than trying to convince a no voter to vote yes.
DeleteI agree that education to the general public about bonds needs to occur. I agree that high property values are a hard sell; however, I think we can see that school districts who pay the extra money and ensure that their school facilities and programs are funded adequately tend to draw people to their community. If given the choice as a parent I would want my child to attend a school where facilities are properly maintained and programs properly funded and I would sacrifice by paying taxes to the school. In the end a small increase in taxes to invest in your local school district is less expensive than tuition at a private school.
DeleteLeslie Mills
Tarleton State University
I am surprised by that high rate of approval especially given these difficult economic times. But I worry about districts like Cedric's where things will only get worse the longer time goes on. I realize taxpayers are feeling the pinch as well, but I don't think they understand the implications of allowing schools to remain in the dark ages. We can not successfully send kids out into a world they are not prepared for.
ReplyDeleteMichelle Schwalls
Tarleton State
I live in an area that is more concerned about athletics than academics. As such, I was immensely pleased that our recent bond passed to improve school facilities in the district. I think the biggest factor in getting bonds passed is educating the voting public. Unfortunately, many of us live in rural areas where the local paper is marginal at best--which often leads to previously mentioned releases of inaccurate information. With the increase in social media and more people actively using email and the internet to obtain iformation, there are additional ways in which to reach the voting public than simply direct mailing or local newspapers. A way to further drive home to voters of the need for bonds passing would be to include pictures in the information. If people can't see or touch something tangible, they are less likely to understand the purpose behind the initiatives. Show the voting public the dark ages that many of our children are being educated in so that those not entering the schools on a regular basis can see the need for these improvements.
ReplyDeleteC. Andrew - Tarleton State University
I think that it may be difficult given the current political environment, but I still thing that most of the well thought and generally needed school bonds should pass without to much issue. I agree that it is easier to get bonds for school programs passed as it is a very visible need for the community.
ReplyDeleteM Nelson (TSU)