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Voters who live in the North East Independent School District will be asked to weigh in on a $495 million bond proposal in the November 4 election.
North East ISD last went out for a bond 10 years ago. Unlike most previous bonds, Superintendent Sean Maika said this bond is about maintenance, not new construction.
“When you look at Proposition A, which is the bulk, it's about 81% of this bond. It's in things like HVAC, air handlers, chillers, boilers, cameras, things like that” Maika said.
The bond proposal is broken into five propositions.
Proposition A, which covers general projects, is for $400 million. It includes roofs, plumbing, water heaters, and HVAC equipment.
Proposition B is for technology and is $53.5 million. It includes laptops for staff, devices for students, printers, photocopiers, and audiovisual equipment.
Proposition C is for athletics and is $29 million. It’s primarily for renovations at Blossom Athletic Center, including Littleton Gym, the tennis center, the soccer fields, and the baseball fields. It also includes lighting at various athletic facilities and turf at the Judson Road softball fields.
“Littleton Gym was built in '68 and we've never done any upgrades to it. And so, the facility steering committee picked it because all of our students in the district use it at one point or the other,” Maika said.
Proposition D is for stadiums and is $9.7 million. It provides updates for Comalander and Heroes Stadium, including turf, restrooms, and concessions.
Proposition E is for the natatorium at Blossom Athletic Center and is $2.3 million. It replaces the roof and windows at the small pool and installs a dehumidification system.
“I think people thought we were going to build a new stadium. That's not (happening),” Maika said. “It's maintaining that stadium by replacing the turf and upgrading lights and plumbing, roofing, things like that. Even the natatorium is new windows, new roof, and then dehumidification in it. So, it's really not about building new stuff. It's truly focused on maintaining.”
Maika said the impetus for looking into a new bond was an HVAC that broke down at Madison High School in 2021. After that incident, district leaders began looking for a firm to conduct a facility assessment so NEISD would have a list of future maintenance needs.
Maika said the company NEISD hired created a dashboard of facility needs that the district will also be able to use for future bonds.
“Because we have a dashboard, the taxpayers of North East will never pay for it again, because as we fix things, it just moves it down in priority,” Maika said.
After the facility assessment was complete, the district created a facility steering committee, which came up with a recommendation for this year’s bond.
A full list of the projects the bond will be used for, filtered by campus and by proposition, can be found on the district's website.
Bond elections ask voters for permission to sell bonds and maintain tax rates high enough to pay them off.
Maika said NEISD will be able to pay for this bond without raising the Interest and Sinking tax rate, which is used to pay off debt.
The district’s current I&S tax rate is $0.30 per $100 of value.
“We've actually lowered the Interest and Sinking side of our tax rate, or the bond debt side, six times since 2015. But what I explained to people is you're not feeling that in your taxes because property evaluations are skyrocketing,” Maika said.
Still, Maika said NEISD is doing everything it can to save the taxpayer money by refinancing debt and paying it off early.
Texas school districts have two property tax rates: the I&S rate for bonds and the Maintenance & Operations, or M&O, tax rate for daily operations.
NEISD’s combined tax rate was just over $1 per $100 of value last year and is projected to be $0.9474 per $100 of value this year. The state automatically compresses the M&O tax rate as property values rise.
Early voting for the NEISD bond and all other measures on the ballot starts Monday, October 20. TPR has a complete voter guide outlining all of the issues on the November ballot in Bexar County.
