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Even as San Antonio voters showed overwhelming support for renewing sales tax funding for Pre-K 4 SA, they seemed to be in less of a giving mood when it came to increasing their property taxes to support local school districts.
Four of the five San Antonio-area school districts with Voter-Approval Tax Rate Elections on the 2026 midterm ballot lost their bid to increase funding for teacher pay and daily school operations. The Fifth district's race, located primarily in Guadalupe County, was too close to call as of early Wednesday morning.
The three school districts with bond propositions on the ballot also saw them fail.
Mostly flat state funding, skyrocketing costs for fuel and other expenses and lost revenue from declining enrollment have left school districts across Texas struggling to balance their budgets in recent years.
That’s left school districts increasingly turning to Voter-Approval Tax Rate Elections, or VATREs, in recent years. VATREs are the only local lever Texas school districts have to increase revenue for daily operations in a state where school funding levels are almost entirely dictated by state lawmakers.
But VATRE elections have been a tough sell in Bexar County and many places across the state. Five San Antonio-area school districts held VATRE elections in 2025 too. All but one failed.
Northside ISD
The Northside Independent School District asked voters to approve a VATRE and three bond propositions. The district estimated that the VATRE would have unlocked an additional $21.5 million in local revenue annually, plus another $24 million from the state through a three-cent increase in the Maintenance & Operations tax rate.
The Maintenance & Operations, or M&O, tax rate is used to pay staff salaries and operate schools.
Because Northside’s VATRE failed, the compensation package passed by trustees in June will not go into effect. The NISD board voted to give teachers and other staff a 2% raise and increase the minimum pay to $15 an hour. But because of the district’s budget deficit, trustees made the raise contingent on the VATRE passing.
Northside voters also struck down three bond proposals worth a combined $886 million. While VATREs give districts more funding for daily operations, bonds authorize districts to take on debt for construction and infrastructure needs.
Proposition B would have authorized the district to sell bonds worth $765 million for security upgrades, school buses with seat belts, chillers, boilers, roof replacements and campus renovations. Proposition C was for $56 million in classroom technology. Proposition D was for $65.5 million to replace the district’s natatorium.
Speaking as a leader of the political action committee for Northside’s finance measures, Northside trustee Bobby Blount said after early voting he wasn’t confident the district would have the numbers to pass the bond or the VATRE.
Blount said it’s hard to say for sure why, but the bigger turnout for a November election might have played a role. Northside usually holds bond elections in May.
“Whether or not everybody really understood and (was) educated (on Texas school finance) was a big challenge. We think the other thing too that we've always been concerned about is that language on that ballot. That language that said this is a tax increase,” Blount said. “While that was true for the VATRE part, it wasn't true for the bond part for us.”
Blount said the economy might have also played a role.
“You got economic challenges that are going on. You got political discourse that's going on. You know, you have people that just not only didn't understand, but they face different type challenges, so they may see things a little bit differently” Blount said.
San Antonio ISD
The San Antonio Independent School District also asked voters to approve a VATRE and three bond propositions. Because San Antonio ISD has already accessed most of the additional cents allowed under state law, the VATRE would have generated a more modest sum than Northside worth about $5.5 million a year.
State law allows school districts to access up to 17 cents in optional funding, but the final nine cents — called copper pennies — generate less revenue. SAISD’s VATRE would have unlocked the district’s final 3.17 cents out of the maximum 17 cents.
SAISD planned to use the VATRE for a one-time staff stipend and to support teacher pipeline and college and career-readiness programs.
SAISD voters also struck down three bond proposals worth a combined $600 million. Proposition B would have authorized the district to sell bonds worth $492 for campus renovations, school buses with seatbelts, security upgrades, chillers and boilers.
Updating outdated heating and cooling systems has been a major concern for the district in recent years as it has struggled to keep up with extreme weather conditions. In January 2024, it had to close schools for two days after a freeze broke boiler pipes and caused widespread heater failures.
Proposition C designated $102 million for technology infrastructure and devices. Proposition D was for a comparatively modest $6 million to replace the turf at Alamo Stadium.
At the watch party after early votes came in, the SAISD political action committee chair Mario Barrera said he was “puzzled and maybe a little bit disappointed” by the results but holding out hope that Election Day votes would turn the tide for some of SAISD’s propositions.
“Especially the VATRE,” Barrera said. “Our teachers and our staff need that. They were not able to get an increase in salary over the last academic year, simply because of budgetary reasons, so we really, really need that for them, along with the teacher pipeline programs that have been pretty innovative for the district. We need to continue to fund those.”
“What’s also troubling is how the other school districts are in the same situation, and I mean we've all been supporting each other,” Barrera added.
“I just think there's this anti-tax sentiment out there, and that school districts got supposedly funded in the last legislative session, which we know they were not the way that school districts needed to be. I really don't have an explanation as to why we're all in the same category right now. So, it's not inner city versus Northside. Northside — the numbers aren't good for them either.”
Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD
After losing by 108 votes in 2025, The Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District went back to voters again this November to ask them to approve a 12-cent VATRE. At 1 a.m. on Wednesday, the results were too close to call. With Guadalupe County only reporting early voting, 51% of voters had voted for the VATRE, with Guadalupe County voters carrying the vote. A majority of Bexar County SCUC voters voted against the measure.
SCUC officials estimate the additional 12 cents would give the district an additional $15.1 million annually for staff salaries and school operations. About $6.8 million would come from the state, with about $8.3 million collected locally.
Earlier this year, SCUC cut all librarians and replaced them with library aides due to budget constraints.
East Central ISD
After voters struck down East Central’s VATRE proposals in 2024 and 2025, ECISD came back a third time with slightly smaller ask in 2026. Instead of a five-cent increase, the 2026 VATRE would have increased the M&O tax rate by 3.72 cents.
Trustees reduced the I&S tax rate for bonds by 3.71 cents so that the total tax rate increase would only be 0.01 cents.
ECISD officials estimated the VATRE would have generated $8.47 million annually for the district. Funding the district planned to use to keep up with inflation, hire security officers, support their performance-based compensation plan, support teachers and support personnel and maintain or reduce class sizes.
South San ISD
The South San Antonio Independent School District asked voters to approve a 7-cent increase in the tax rate for daily operations. To offset the increase, the board reduced the I&S tax rate by 7 cents so that the overall tax rate would remain the same.
If the VATRE had passed, South San would have unlocked an additional $2.7 million in local funding, with additional funding from the state. The district planned to use the funding for roof repairs and a 5% raise for paraprofessionals and instructional aides.
Comal ISD
Comal ISD asked voters to approve two bond propositions worth a combined $567 million. The district has been expanding for over a decade, and has passed four bonds since 2015, most recently in 2023.
The 2026 bond would have provided $540 million for school buses, security, maintenance and additions and $27 million for student devices and infrastructure.
All three San Antonio-area school districts with bonds on the ballot planned to use part of the money to purchase or retrofit school buses with seat belts. State lawmakers passed an unfunded mandate requiring school buses to have seatbelts in 2025.
San Antonio Report’s Xochilt Garcia contributed to this story.
