Northwest school district plans to put bond on May ballot after loss
The Northwest school district plans to put a nearly $1 billion bond package back on the ballot in May 2021 after voters rejected the proposal this election cycle, the district superintendent said.
Supporters of the bond package say the proposal failed because of uninformed voters and confusing, state-mandated language on the ballot.
The bond package, which was split into four proposals on the ballot, would have built seven schools, expanded three others and renovated existing campuses in the rapidly growing district. With nearly all ballots counted in Denton, Wise and Tarrant counties, a majority of voters rejected the bond, as well as a proposed 3.26% increase in a property tax rate.
Those in favor of the bond package — which the district said would not increase taxes because of increasing property values — said the rejection of all the proposals is a major disappointment, and they worry about the imminent need for more schools.
“All we have done is kicked the can further down the road,” said Jason Palmer, a father of four children in the district.
As one of the fastest-growing districts — in the fastest-growing metro area in the nation — NISD is adding about 1,100 new students each year. In preparation for the growth, the district laid out a long-term plan for constructing new schools and district facilities. The rejection of this year’s bond proposal set that plan back by a year, Superintendent Ryder Warren said.
“The vast majority of our bonds are just creating spaces for the kids we know are going to come here,” Warren said. “Once you get behind on growth, it’s very hard to catch up.”
The 2020 bond would also have offset the financial repercussions of House Bill 3, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2019. The bill introduced comprehensive changes in the school finance system, and caused the district to lose about $15 million a year in property tax revenue, Warren said.
The proposal for growth
In February, the board voted to place the $986.6 million bond package on the May 2020 ballot. The election was postponed until Nov. 3 due to COVID-19.
The bond package was presented as four propositions. The tax rate increase was presented as proposition E, and would have resulted in an additional $21 million in state funding.
Some of those who voted against the proposals might have been confused by the wording on the propositions, which said the proposals would increase the property tax rate. In compliance with a new state law, all five ballot propositions included the statement, “This is a property tax increase.”
The district is growing rapidly enough that officials predict they can pay back the bond without increasing the tax rate used to pay off bonds. In fact, the Board of Trustees voted in August to lower the rate for the district’s tax that finances the debt for facilities by 3 cents per $100 of valuation. But because of increasing property values, homeowners’ tax bills are increasing.
The 2020 bond package would also replace a 2008 bond that the district recently paid off.
The statement that property taxes would increase must be included on the ballot because if economic conditions changed, the district might have to levy a tax rate increase to repay the bonds.
Because voters also rejected the proposed 3.26% increase in the maintenance and operations tax, the tax rate will drop by about 7 cents, or $192.50 for the owner of a $300,000 home with a homestead exemption.
Confusion on the ballot
While the district emphasized online and in public forums that the bond proposals would not increase the property tax rate, many voters may not have been aware of the technicalities within the proposals. Warren said with so many people voting in November’s election — including about 30,000 people in the area who have no ties to the district — it was hard to spread the information to all voters.
Palmer, who lives in Justin, said the vote being delayed from May until November likely spelled disaster for the bond proposal. Those who voted on Tuesday with only the presidential election in mind might not have been informed about the proposals, and voted based on words tax increase.
The district hoped to hold the election over the summer after COVID-19 derailed May election plans. Warren said they asked Abbott for permission to schedule an election on the bond package proposal over the summer, but the request was denied.
Rusty Fuller, the North Fort Worth Alliance president, agreed that voters might not have known what the proposals meant.
“$990 million is a lot of money to approve,” he said. “And if you don’t educate folks and say, ‘You’re authorizing me to spend $990 million over the next eight to 10 years,’ they look at that and say ‘Oh, no. I’m not paying that.’”
While the school district campaigned heavily for the bond package in February, the focus shifted in past months to COVID-19.
The tax increase for maintenance and operations would have cost the owner of a $300,000 home $192.50. Fuller said he can understand why people would not want to pay more taxes, but they’re “being shortsighted.”
“It seems paradoxical that people who are screaming to have their kids in school despite the chance of COVID-19 being spread would turn down the opportunity to build more schools for their kids to go to,” Fuller said. “The voter is not as educated as they think they are.”
Some voters might also have rejected the bond package out of spite for the district, Palmer said. Many residents were frustrated by the district’s response to COVID-19 and felt disenfranchised by the school board. People who did not support virtual learning felt left out of the conversation, he said.
However, he does not think many people allowed that to rule their vote and attributed the loss to uninformed voters.
“If they were to hold the bond election next week, I think it passes,” he said. “Because the only people who would go vote are those who really want it or strongly feel that they don’t. Not those who are just voting in a presidential election.”
Repercussions
In a neighborhood development near his home, Palmer has watched as seemingly hundreds of houses are built each month. About 2,000 new homes are being constructed and sold each year in the school district, and the district anticipates an additional 6,100 students over the next four to five years.
Without the bond package, Palmer said he does not know where those kids plan to go to school.
Northwest is already bursting at the seams with its current schools. Several elementary schools utilize portable trailers to hold an overflow of students. Three more elementary schools are slotted to open in the coming years — the first set to open in 2021 — based on a $399 million bond program passed in 2017.
“No one wants to drop off their kid in a BMW and have them walk into a portable building,” Palmer said.
Residents should expect to see more of those portable classrooms and redrawn attendance boundaries because the propositions failed, Warren said. The district’s plan to accommodate growth will be set back by at least one year — and that’s if the bond is put up for another vote and approved in May. Warren plans to recommend that re-vote.
“We’re very proud of who we are,” he said. “We were Northwest before the election, and we’re still Northwest after the election.”
This story was originally published November 5, 2020 at 5:54 PM.
CORRECTION: This story has been corrected to explain that the property tax rate will drop because voters rejected a proposed 3.26% increase in the maintenance and operations tax.
