SAN ANTONIO – A North East Independent School District bond on the Nov. 4 ballot would spend nearly $500 million for widespread maintenance on dozens of schools and facilities.
The district said the $495 million bond would address aging infrastructure, safety and security enhancements, upgrades to instructional technology and classroom equipment, and improvements to arts, athletics, and extracurricular spaces.
The percentage of funding is broken down by category:
- General (80.88%)
- Technology (10.80%)
- Athletics (5.89%)
- Stadiums (1.96%)
- Natatorium (0.47%)
“This really was a four-year process,” said NEISD superintendent Sean Maika. “A facility steering committee made up of parents, community members and staff are really the ones who decided what should go into this bond.”
The committee reviewed district facilities, enrollment trends and instructional needs. Maika told KSAT the bond does not involve specific areas of growth, but rather the maintenance and updates needed at current facilities.
“They did weigh things like, how many kids does this actually impact?” Maika said. “So when you take a look at Blossom Athletic Center in Littleton Gym, because it impacts all of our students, they chose that project because it impacted all 54,000.”
The district’s website, which outlines the entire bond, lists specific projects that include at least 60 schools and multiple district athletic facilities.
There is a section showing work that could be done at each individual school, and another section with longer project lists for several schools.
Schools frequently mentioned include Jackson Keller Elementary School, Larkspur Elementary, LEE High School, Dellview Elementary, Nimitz STEM Middle School and Ridgeview Elementary.
The website also clarifies that there will be no tax increase for residents, explaining why that may be confusing when someone looks at the ballot.
State law requires that all school bond propositions on the ballot include the statement “this is a property tax increase.” However, the district said it anticipates no increase to the current tax rate, due to “sound financial planning and debt restructuring.”
“Since 2012, our CFO has saved taxpayers $193 million. We have actually lowered the tax rate six times since 2015. But people haven’t felt the impact because our property evaluations keep rising,” Maika said. “We’re the 16th cheapest run district in the state of Texas out of 1,200. That’s TEA’s data. So, because of all of those factors, we have the capacity not to have to increase it, and that means no rate increase for anybody.”
Registered voters living within North East ISD boundaries are eligible to vote. Early voting runs through Friday, Oct. 31.
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