Most Texas voters skipped Tuesday’s elections, but those who voted in their local school district contests collectively approved billions in new bond debt and permanent property tax rate increases.
More than 2.5 million Texans voted statewide on constitutional amendments, a turnout of about 14 percent. All 17 amendments passed—including several designed to lower property tax burdens.
Yet locally, many voters gave their school districts the okay to spend billions more tax dollars and to permanently raise their property tax rates.
Dozens of school districts put bond propositions totaling more than $10 billion on the November 4 ballot, according to the Texas Bond Review Board.
Bonds must be repaid with interest by local property taxpayers. Texas law requires each ballot proposition to state: “THIS IS A PROPERTY TAX INCREASE.”
In addition to bond debt, more than 40 Texas school districts put a Voter Approval Tax Ratification Election on the ballot.
A VATRE is required when a district proposes a permanent increase in its maintenance and operating (M&O) tax rate that exceeds the voter-approval rate—the highest rate allowed by state law without a public vote.
