I feel like this would be getting less attention if it weren’t for Mike Miles.
Houston ISD’s $4.4 billion school bond would add an estimated $8.9 billion in debt for the district over more than 30 years if approved by voters in November, according to the election order.
As required by state law, the HISD Board of Managers approved an order on Aug. 8 calling for the school bond election during the upcoming general election. The document includes the ballot language, proposed bond projects and the district’s annual, preliminary projected debt obligations through 2058 if either or both of the propositions in the bond measure pass.
The bond proposes allocating about $2 billion for rebuilding and renovating schools and $1.35 billion for lead abatement, security upgrades, and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning improvements. It would also provide $1 billion to expand pre-K, build three new career and technical education centers and make technology upgrades without raising taxes.
It will be split into two propositions on the ballot that people can vote on separately. Proposition A would allocate $3.96 billion for school building renovations and expansions, including safety and security infrastructure, while Proposition B would allocate $440 million for technology equipment, systems and infrastructure.
Along with the listed cost on the ballot, the election order states that Proposition A will include more than $4.4 billion in estimated interest for the debt obligations, which would equal a combined cost of nearly $8.4 billion. Proposition B would add $89 million in interest payments in addition to the $440 million principal payment, with an estimated total cost of $529 million.
In total, if the bond passes, the principal costs of both measures would be about $4.4 billion, while the total estimated additional interest will be $4.5 billion.
According to the election order, HISD would have a debt service of approximately $2 billion through 2043, independent of the bond election results. The two bond propositions, if passed, would add more than $8.9 billion in debt through 2058 — increasing HISD’s total debt service to more than $10.9 billion, according to district estimates.
The projections are based on several assumptions, including a 30-year term for the four bond issues in 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028. It also assumes a state-mandated $100,000 homestead exemption, a 5.5% interest rate on the debt and the availability of the Permanent School Fund Guarantee for all debt obligations.
“If the foregoing assumptions are met, the district does not anticipate the need for a tax rate increase to pay debt service on bonds issued pursuant to Proposition A,” the election order said. “Therefore, the estimated maximum annual increase in the amount of taxes imposed on a residence homestead to repay the debt obligations, if approved, is expected to be $0.”
Several HISD parents, teachers and other community members have expressed opposition to the bond due to a lack of trust in state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles, concerns over transparency and accountability and the total cost of the bond measure, which would be the largest in state history if passed. Leaders of the Harris County Republican and Democratic party, HISD’s largest teachers union and the Houston NAACP are among the groups urging residents to vote against both propositions.
“Internal HISD documents reveal that with interest the bond will actually cost nearly $9 billion, more than double the $4.4 billion the district has claimed publicly,” said Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers. “Houston families don’t want to spend 30 years paying off this debt as appraisals rise and our taxes inevitably go up.”
I don’t care for this line of attack on the bonds. I don’t know what the exact conditions were for the previous bonds that we passed in 1998 and 2002 and 2007 and 2012, but I would expect that they were similar in nature – bonds are paid back with interest, interest compounds, and that results in a significant increase in the total amount paid. Take a look at your mortgage or car note sometime and see how much the overall amount paid will be if you just make the regular monthly payments. The numbers will vary and would be less if the interest rate were lower, but the basic math is the same.
And that’s why I don’t care for this. At some point, assuming as I do that this referendum will go down, we will want to pass a bond, as we have done every few years in the past and as so many of the current opponents have voted for before. Everyone agrees a bond is needed, the issue is with this one and that issue is Mike Miles. Why make it harder to do when you want to do it? The reason to oppose this bond issuance if one chooses to do so is because we don’t trust Mike Miles. I don’t see why it needs to be more complicated than that.
And again, if you are undecided on this bond or just want to know what people are saying about it, listen to my interviews with Plácido Gómez and Dani Hernandez for the HISD bond, and Ruth Kravetz of CVPE against it. I hope that helps.
Everyone agrees they are needed? Interesting. There seems to be a lot of somebodies against the bonds.
Maybe I don’t see things through the eyes of people devoid of color. I belong to a group called People of Color. The assumption, then, is that the others left have no color. Maybe they are translucent.
I know why another poster supports the bonds; he has almost derived much of his income from HISD or other government entities.
Should we consider that Kuff is endorsing the bonds?
When one has a mortgage, there is usually a large monthly payment. That payment means something else cannot be purchased without more credit—the more debt, the lower the credit report. Look no further than what is happening to the City.
I have also found that schools that often tend to service people devoid of color seem to get a bigger share.
I recall when Bellaire was primarily lily white (people without color). They got a brand new science lab, state of the arts—a science classroom where people of color did not get the hole on the floor repaired. However, the teachers could go to Bellaire HS and learn how to use all that great equipment.
Mike Miles is Kuff’s Baba Yaga.
That being said, I have no intention in voting Yes on this. Public schools are going the way of the dinosaur, eventually, and I have no desire to saddle my heirs (should they choose to live in HTX) with $9B in debt.
It’s bad enough the state already defunds schools directly, now they have found a way to get us to join in on defunding HISD by means of their appointee. I hope everyone remembers the day when Zeph Capo opposed the bonds as if he were a right wing extremist because years from now when Miles is gone, the costs will have soared.
“The student body at the schools served by Houston Independent School District is 9.7% White, 22.2% Black, 4.5% Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander, 61.8% Hispanic/Latino, 0.2% American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.1% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. In addition, 1.6% of students are two or more races, and 0% have not specified their race or ethnicity.” HISD website
Miles isn’t going anywhere anytime soon so this is going to impact People of Color more than the translucent crowd that have been disproportionately leaving the district for years. Big surprise.
Freeman, you said nothing surprising. Did you assume I did not know the composition of HISD?
Use the people of color to justify spending money and then blame them because we have to spend money.
How much did they spend on that school downtown? What is the composition of that school?
Ten percent of the people could get 90% of the money, but we could make it look like the 90% are getting it.
FYI, in 2018, that school downtown was almost 50% translucent.
Manny, are you talking about HISD’s Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts on Austin ?
Yes,
Meme, given your previous comments, it was my belief your knowledge on the bond and situation would be superior to mine. I was just reminding you of the context as some of us others see it. Those of us with children and our friends with children think our kids deserve AC, better security, and all the other things the bond provides.
The federation of teachers don’t give a damn about anything except removing Miles and they will use any means necessary so long as the union leaders sit in their comfortable, air conditioned offices. Adopting the republican argument over finances is just an effort to get more no votes from groups they wouldn’t piss on were they on fire normally and we all know it. If this bond fails, the same projects down the road are going to cost a lot more but as long as Miles is removed, there won’t be a peep about cost by them.
As for how the spoils would be divided if the bond passes, I read the official proposal. I doubt they will stray that far off it but even if they did, given the demographics of the specific schools in need, those lilly white translucent people are not going to be able to grab the majority of funds. Most of the money isn’t even going to the high schools, which you surely know, so your argument tied to Kinder is a red herring.
Looking at the demographics of the high schools since you mentioned it, Carnegie is almost 80% POC, Kinder is two thirds, DeBakey is 86%, and I could go on. The needs are obvious no matter who is in charge and those with children in school aren’t interested in the games being played. Use of the financial argument is a bad idea just as focusing on the possibility that the HNIC is going to go out of his way to focus spending on a single demographic when that demographic is tiny just doesn’t seem credible. Maybe some of you want to help promote crazy voucher schemes instead but not I.
Ignorance is fantastic; we can always be happy.
ACs should not be a bond issue.
All my children attended HISD.
We have custody of a grandchild who attends HISD.
Taxes, HISD, and any other government entities don’t affect me much because of my age and house value when I reached 65.
We can pick and choose schools; what about the magnets within the schools? Too often, they get a larger share, and too often, the only rooms they share are the gym and cafeteria.
HISD has numerous campuses that should be closed and properties sold, and that money could be used for renovations for the schools with the greatest needs.
DeBakey was originally primarily African-American and should have been named after the principal with the original idea; he was Black. It was so successful that now Black students are barely 16% of the student population. I don’t know if the policy changed, but many students were from outside HISD. While revisionist history gives DeBakey credit for creating the School of Health Profession, Principal Weston was behind the creation. If we want to give credit for its creation, the Supreme Court of the United States said that HISD and another school district must integrate. Magnet schools were a way of getting around busing people of no color.
It is possible that the student body composition may not be correct, as it has been many years since the school was created. I was a teacher at HISD at the time. With few exceptions, almost every successful magnet program in the African-American community was moved to a location with a majority of people of no color.
“Should we consider that Kuff is endorsing the bonds?
To be clear, I am not endorsing the bonds. I have said I will vote for them, as I do think they are needed, but I am not endorsing them. Vote how you see fit on HISD Props A and B.
“Mike Miles is Kuff’s Baba Yaga.”
I had to google “Baba Yaga”. I’m still not sure what this is intended to mean. Be that as it may, Mike Miles is my idea of a bad leader, one who squandered multiple opportunities to effectively communicate their ideas and build trust with the community, and in doing so made the job they were brought in to do a lot harder for themselves. I’ll leave it to you to decide whether this is still a useful analogy.
John Wick – Baba Yaga
https://youtu.be/5L4ldXvWwrI?si=y1cbpUTPOlWfF3II
The Baba Yaga of Slavic mythology is an interesting and unpredictable character- sometimes she’ll try to eat you, sometimes she’ll aid you in your quest. So she could be more cooperative than Miles if you cross her path on a good day.
@Charles: Since I live in Alief ISD, I do not have a dog in this hunt. But, I would like to point out that 30 years for the maturity of the bonds is unusually long for school bonds. I assume that 30 years was chosen in order to avoid an increase in the I&S tax rate. During my 22 years on the Alief Board, I do not recall that we ever went beyond 20 years and I believe 20 is typical of Texas ISD bonds. The difference in the total amount of interest to be paid is in the $billions. If it helps to visualize this, think of 15 year home mortgages vs 30 year. It is widely recognized that the monthly payment on a 15 year mortgage is only modestly higher than the monthly payment on a 30 year, but the debtor is only paying for half as long. I believe HISD will come to regret this choice of 30 years if it goes forward as proposed.
John, thanks for the clarity. It would have been nice to have seen this in the story, which to me read as if this were the first time ever that a bond would be paid off with interest. We’d need to do a net present value calculation to determine the real difference between a 20- and 30- year payout, but at least now I understand that the 30-year time frame is unusual.
HISD needs to close and consolidate campuses. turn some left overs into CTE Centers. $1 billion MAX for renovations and SERIOUSLY NEEDED rebuilds.
@Manny…. HISD’s Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts downtown…is ‘translucent’ ? The same one where it costs the student/parents $13K/year (if you’re not inside HISD’s boundaries) and has an ethnic student breakdown of 62% Hispanic, 24% African American, 9% White, 4% Asian and 75% economically-disadvantaged ?
@John Hansen… re: “It is widely recognized that the monthly payment on a 15 year mortgage is only modestly higher than the monthly payment on a 30 year, but the debtor is only paying for half as long”
I don’t know about the modestly higher part…. let’s assume we’re talking about a $100M note at 5% over 30 yrs – that’d equate to a P&I payment of $536.8K/month. With a 15 year term, that payment is now $790.7K/month, a (pretty substantial) 47% increase.
CL give me your source of student demographics, as I saw close to 50% white.
The data you gave is for all of HISD; I will assume that you just erred and did not intend to intentionally mislead. But then I do think of you as partially MAGA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinder_High_School_for_the_Performing_and_Visual_Arts#References They are a few years old data, but I doubt it would be much different now.
I was referring to DeBakey for tuition for out-of-district students, but it is possible that they may have to pay now.
@Manny, you’re right – those figures were from the 2018-2019 school year. In 2024, Kinder HSPVA is 36.3% white, 29% hispanic, 18.7% black, 9.3% asian, and the remainder as ‘other’. A total of 63.7% minority enrollment. Straight from US News and World Report.
Happy to clarify that for you.