Corpus Christi ISD's bond election failed. What now?

This election cycle, Corpus Christi voters supported investments in city streets, parks, public safety, cultural facilities and flood control. But when it came to local schools, the well of support was dry .

In contrast to the city proposals, the Corpus Christi Independent School District's $135.4 million bond proposition failed to pass during the Nov. 5 election.

Close to 62% of voters opposed the proposition. The last time a CCISD bond proposition failed was 20 years ago.

Frequent school bonds have transformed CCISD over the past decade and a half, each year marked by groundbreakings and ribbon-cuttings.

Previously, in 2004, two propositions totaling $198 million failed. But when the district came back to voters with two propositions totaling $192 million in 2008, voters complied, launching a tide of voter support sustained in six subsequent elections.

Thousands of children have attended new, modern classrooms, with the approval of voters and through the dollars raised from taxpayers.

Over $1 billion later, it seems the goodwill of voters has finally run out.

"Our work continues," Superintendent Roland Hernandez wrote in a Wednesday email to the Caller-Times. "However, failed bonds only delay work and construction which will allow costs to go up."

After the final election returns came in Tuesday evening, CCISD posted a brief response on social media.

"We thank the community for considering Bond 2024," the district posted. "We will continue to work to provide a safe, positive learning environment for all students and staff."

CCISD's strategy of semi-regular, modest bond elections means that most years, the interest and sinking tax rate remained unchanged. But each has added to the district's debt.

"The bond would have allowed new construction of schools to be completed within two years with no increase to the CCISD tax rate," Hernandez said in an email.

In the email sent Wednesday evening, Hernandez outlined what the failed bond means for CCISD, including potentially higher costs for the district long term.

Included in the failed bond proposition were plans to consolidate six elementary schools into just two campuses, with a new Yeager Elementary School to house Yeager, Kostoryz and Sanders elementary school students and a renovated Houston Elementary School to house Houston, Fannin and Travis elementary school students.

"Consolidations and merging older and low enrollment schools together will help with staffing and high maintenance costs," Hernandez wrote. "These schools on average are 55 to 60 years old with high needs in HVAC, chillers, boilers, and roofing needs."

Hernandez said in the email that the district will assess how to merge and consolidate schools without new facilities.

Texas public school budgets have two sides and are supported by two local property tax rates.

The maintenance and operations tax rate is the larger portion of the tax bill property owners owe each year to the local school district. These funds are the main revenue source for school budgets, paying for regular annual expenses like salaries.

State law greatly impacts if, when and by how much local school districts can raise the maintenance and operations tax rate. Facing low enrollments, rising costs and a failure by state legislators to increase school funding in recent years, CCISD currently has higher expenses than revenues on the maintenance and operations side. This is eating into the district's reserves.

School bonds impact the other side of things, the interest and sinking tax rate. If voters give a school district permission to take on debt to pay for capital improvement projects like new schools, the interest and sinking tax proceeds are used to pay down the debt over the course of many years.

Though the 2024 bond proposal did not pass, bond obligations from previous years mean that the district will still collect interest and sinking tax proceeds.

Due to the maintenance and operations budget deficit, there isn't much room in the annual budget to take on the Bond 2024 projects now that the district has been denied interest and sinking tax proceeds for these projects.

Hernandez wrote that it is possible, but not likely, that the district will be able to use any maintenance and operations funds to address the bond projects.

"With state funding cuts, districts are limited on what they can do from reserve funds to get ahead," Hernandez wrote, adding there are hopes the Texas Legislature will deliver public schools with adequate funding for programs, students and teacher salaries in next year's legislative session.

In addition to the elementary school projects, the bond would have provided for a gym addition at Haas Middle School, renovations at King and Moody high schools, and additional classrooms and a new weight room at Veterans Memorial High School, as well as a slate of fine arts projects, including expanding the inventory of instruments for CCISD band students.

At Veterans Memorial High School, student growth is pushing the limits of campus capacity. Without the bond funding, Hernandez confirmed that the district will have to consider limiting that growth, potentially by limiting transfers or rethinking school attendance boundaries.

"In addition to these examples to consider, adding portables for space and expansion will be considered," Hernandez wrote.

What cannot be accomplished due to current budget constraints will have to wait for the next bond opportunity, when the district might try again to win voter support.

Hernandez said that the district will "most likely" try for another bond sometime in the future, though the district has not discussed when that might be or what projects might be included.

This year's bond faced some opposition, including from the Nueces County Republican Party, which also opposed several city of Corpus Christi bond and sales tax reauthorization propositions due to concerns about increases in local tax-supported debt.

"I was very surprised to see that the CCISD bond failed," Nueces County Republican Party Chairman Carmen Calderone said. "I'm happy to see that because I feel like we have too much debt in CCISD."

The only Corpus Christi proposition the local Republican Party supported was Proposition F, a sales tax measure to fund flood control and coastal resiliency.

In contrast to the failure of the CCISD school bond, voters supported the full slate of city proposals.

According to the Texas Bond Review Board , in fiscal year 2023, CCISD had $28,573 of tax-supported debt per student enrollment based on average daily attendance, which is the metric used for Texas public school funding.

Compared to the eight Texas public school districts with the most similar student enrollments, four had more debt per student.

Del Mar College professor Paul Gottemoller noted that many taxpayers pay most of their tax bill to public school districts.

The total property tax rate for CCISD is just over 95 cents per $100 of assessed value, compared with about 26 cents each for Del Mar College and Nueces County and close to 60 cents for the city of Corpus Christi, though homestead exemptions differ.

"CCISD has been coming for new bonds for the last few election cycles and there (has) been a whole host of new construction," Gottemoller said. "And remember, your property taxes to (CCISD) are the highest of all your property taxes. So people are going to be more skeptical of that than they would be ... of the city."

Reporter Kirsten Crow contributed to this story.

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