As property values in Bexar County stagnate, school districts are reevaluating how far they can stretch their own tax rates to pay for items such as new schools, renovations, technology upgrades — the list goes on.
On average, Bexar County homes decreased in value by 0.11% for 2026. Last year, values increased by 2.1%.
For months now, San Antonio Independent School District has been weighing a November bond election as it deals with several aging buildings, demands for upgraded technology and state safety mandates such as having three-point seatbelts on all school buses by 2029.
Similarly, Northside ISD is leaning toward having a school bond election this year to pay for safety, HVAC, turf replacements and more.
Meanwhile, the City of San Antonio will propose a tax rate increase for the first time in 33 years because of its own budget woes, also shared by the county and local public utility systems.
Municipalities and school districts use its tax rates to pay back large loans taken out for big infrastructure projects, betting on future growth in the area.
When there’s enough property value growth, school districts can keep the tax rate the same and sometimes even decrease it since there would be more money coming in anyway.
But now, a perfect storm of property value stagnation, higher homestead exemptions and higher interest rates are pushing districts to take “conservative” approaches.
SAISD reconsiders bond plans
Only a few months ago, SAISD felt positive it could go out for a bond between $450 million, requiring no tax rate increase, and over $1 billion, which would require a 10-cent increase.
But now, officials believe they could only go for a $300 million bond to avoid increasing the SAISD’s tax rate, currently set at $1.15 per every $100 of taxable property value.
Unlike the county, property values in SAISD did go up by 1.1% overall, but caps and homestead exemptions also significantly increased, ultimately cutting what the district will get from taxpayers by 10.1% this year.
Meanwhile, SAISD is dealing with several aging buildings and recently announced it would be taking a “new way forward,” which involves rightsizing, replacing schools with new state-of-the-art learning hubs and modernizing across the board.
The district is also considering a separate, voter-approval tax rate election which would increase the part of the tax rate that pays for day-to-day costs like student programs and teacher pay. The other part of the tax rate, known as the interest and sinking rate, pays back bonds used for capital improvement.
Mario Barrera chairs SAISD’s Blue Ribbon Task Force, a group of community members who make bond recommendations to the school board, and said the district only has about 17 “nice and new” schools. SAISD operates over 80 schools, even after mass school closures in 2023 and two school closures this year.
“Our kids deserve better,” said Barrera, who’s helped the district through several bond cycles.
A $300 million bond likely wouldn’t pay for any new schools, instead focusing solely on safety, maintenance and new equipment.
Barrera recommended SAISD go out for a $600 million bond, which could replace two schools on top of focusing on the other areas and would only increase the tax rate by 4 to 5 cents.
The timeline to make a bond plan is also sped up by an impending 2027 state legislative session which could make things harder for school districts in budget crunches, given the state’s push to keep cutting property taxes.
“It could get worse,” said SAISD Superintendent Jaime Aquino. “That’s why we’re trying to be conservative here.”
A ‘conservative’ approach
“Conservative” is a word districts use a lot when describing the bond planning process.
Over at North East ISD, where voters approved nearly half a billion dollars in bond projects last year, spokesperson Aubrey Chancellor said the district planned for the “worst case scenario.”
“Therefore, the flat values will not really have an impact,” Chancellor stated. “We do not anticipate needing a change as we were very conservative in our planning.”
The second-largest district in San Antonio, NEISD had also gone nearly a decade without a bond election.
During the more recent May 2 elections, voters in Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD said ‘yes’ to a $295 million bond for tech, stadiums and major school upgrades.
“SCUC ISD factored more conservative growth projections into its bond 2026 planning and intentionally structured projects in phases to allow flexibility as market conditions evolve,” said district spokesperson Deanna Jackson.
Over at Northside ISD, the largest district in San Antonio, officials have been weighing a November bond election between $400 million and $2 billion, depending on which projects they think will get community support.
District officials haven’t said if they had to scale back on their plans after the county released its property value assessment, but a spokesperson stated NISD is “conservative” when estimating their own property values, “assuming minimal growth for a few years and zero growth thereafter.”
NISD also said tax values affect the general fund — which can’t be used to pay off bonds — because of a lag in financial aid the state provides districts crippled by homestead exemptions.
