Skeptical voters, mixed messages and a shadowy mailer: Inside Spring ISD’s tax election failure
In 2022, Spring ISD voters overwhelmingly approved a $850 million bond to renovate campuses, build new facilities and make other upgrades to the district's aging infrastructure.
Two years later, support for school funding in the district appears to have done a 180.
Nearly two-thirds of Spring voters last week rejected a proposal to increase property taxes to help the district and its staff, a resounding defeat that ranked among the largest election losses for a Texas school district this election year.
After the wide margin of defeat, district officials and community advocates are searching for answers as to why the request was uniquely unpopular. Election data shows a majority of voters in nearly all corners of the northern Harris County school district opposed the tax increase, including areas with large numbers of Democrats who historically have been supportive of public schools.
In interviews over the past week, Spring-area leaders pointed to multiple factors that could have converged to cause the unexpected blowout, including economic anxiety among voters, declining support for public education, confusion over the proposal and a misleading campaign mailer.
Following the vote, Spring's third-year superintendent, Lupita Hinojosa, acknowledged that she needs to reach out more to her community and combat growing distrust in public education.
"It's unfortunately a sentiment that has come across the country, not just here in Texas, in Houston, in Spring," Hinojosa said. "I have to do a better job showing the success of our public schools."
The ballot measure — also known as a Voter Approval Tax Rate Election, or VATRE — would have allowed the district to close a projected $13 million budget deficit and give teachers a 2 percent raise. Had it passed, property taxes would have gone up by 5 cents per $100 of taxable property value, costing the average homeowner under the age of 65 about $85 more per year.
Seeking an explanationAs costs have risen and state funding for public schools has remained relatively unchanged since 2019, districts across Texas have asked local property owners for help closing budget holes and raising teacher pay. About half of funding for Texas schools come from local property taxes, while the state accounts for about 40 percent of funding.
In the past two years, 12 large Texas school districts and Houston-area districts have asked voters to raise their taxes. Eight passed and four failed — with Spring's measure receiving the lowest support.
In most cases, districts with a larger share of liberal voters have been more likely to support tax increases than those in conservative areas.
Spring, however, was an exception.
According to precinct-level voting data, nearly two-thirds of Spring voters voted for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Support for the VATRE was higher in areas that went stronger for Harris, but even in heavily Democratic precincts, voters remained largely split over the tax increase. About 15 percent of voters who cast a ballot in the presidential race did not vote on the VATRE.
District officials and community leaders have their own ideas why the VATRE received such low support.
Spring's school board president, Justine Durant, said she believes opponents of the tax increase prioritized their pocketbooks amid the rising cost of living.
"I recognize that our community is facing significant economic challenges, similar to many others across Texas and the nation, and concerns about property tax increases were understandably front of mind for many residents as they went to the polls during this election," Durant said in a statement.
Yolanda Merritt, president of the Spring AFT, a local affiliate of the Texas AFT union, said some voters might have misunderstood the measure, noting that the ballot didn't specify how the additional tax revenue would be spent. District and union officials also used different language when talking about the measure than what voters saw on their ballot, Merritt said.
"I just found that the ballot itself and how it was written was alarming," Merritt said.
State Rep. Jarvis Johnson, D-Houston, who represents part of Spring, said school districts need to improve on better informing community members on how the system works and why they're asking for funds.
"I think far too often people are worried about how much superintendents are making, how much principals are making when they truly need to be concerned about the conditions of our school and how our teachers are underpaid, which leads to many a myriad of other problems," Johnson said.
Hinojosa, meanwhile, theorized that the VATRE didn't receive support from older residents who are less engaged with the district and connected to its shifting demographics. Two decades ago, about one-third of Spring students were white. Today, it's about 5 percent.
"Because they are so removed, they remember the yesteryear of Spring ISD," Hinojosa said. "It's different."
'Broken promises and poor management'There's another possible reason for the vote: an eye-catching piece of mail sent to an unknown number of Spring voters ahead of the election.
The mailer, paid for by a political action committee called the PAC for Holding Government Accountable, urged parents and residents to vote against the VATRE.
Titled "Spring ISD: A Tale of Broken Promises and Poor Management," the mailer made several claims about the election and Spring's performance that are misleading or lacking important context about the district.
For example, the mailer states Spring ISD "continues to see a decline in enrollment when the surrounding districts are increasing."
While Spring's enrollment has fallen by 4 percent over the past five years, neighboring Aldine ISD has seen enrollment drop by 13 percent. Klein ISD, located next to Spring, has seen enrollment stagnate during that time. Enrollment in Spring's third neighboring district, Conroe ISD, has increased by 15 percent, though that's largely due to new housing developments in the area.
The mailer also said Spring's "performance in educating students is lagging neighboring districts," a claim missing key context.
Spring students do perform worse on standardized tests than children in Klein and Conroe ISDs, but the three districts serve dramatically different student demographics. Meanwhile, Spring has outperformed Aldine, the nearby district with the most similar student body.
It's unclear who donated to the PAC for Holding Government Accountable, how much money the PAC received and how much the PAC spent on anti-VATRE campaign materials.
The Texas Ethics Commission has not posted any campaign finance reports submitted by the committee, while it has published reports for many other political candidates and committees. Political action committees participating in an election must file campaign finance reports 30 days and eight days before Election Day.
The Texas Ethics Commission did not respond to requests for comment about whether the PAC for Holding Government Accountable has filed campaign finance reports.
Greg Lindley, a Houston lawyer listed in state records as the treasurer for the PAC for Holding Government Accountable, did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this .
An address listed for the PAC in state records is a residential property in Spring Branch, about 20 miles from Spring. When a Landing reporter reached the property owner, Houston lawyer Walter Wright III, by phone and asked to speak with him, Wright said "I'd rather not" and hung up.
Lindley and Wright have not been frequent contributors to political candidates or campaigns in Texas, state records show.
What comes next?Hours after the election results came out, Spring administrators said in a statement they would have to make "difficult and bold decisions." In the ensuing days, district officials declined to specify potential cuts to district operations.
Now, the district will have to wait for Texas lawmakers to pass additional funding in the next legislative session, which begins in January 2025.
State leaders have forecasted a budget surplus totaling roughly $20 billion headed into the session, though the state delivered minimal new funding to public schools when it had a $33.7 billion surplus in 2023 due to a fight over a private school voucher program. The debate over vouchers is expected to continue into next year.
Johnson, the state representative, said the district's tax rate election shows the importance of state legislators boosting school funding.
"I don't know if the school districts can take a lesson from it (failing), but I think the people who are impacted by this most can take a lesson to understand that we can't keep putting responsibility on the school districts," he said. "We have to put responsibility where it lies and that is with the state."
Durant, the union president, said it's clear communities statewide are concerned about how to fund schools without straining taxpayers' wallets.
"With rising costs in every part of school operations, it's time for state leaders to step up and make sure our public schools have the funding needed to provide students with the education they deserve," she said.
