Northside ISD is San Antonio’s largest school district, serving around 97,000 students across more than 100 campuses. It will ask voters to weigh in on a VATRE and bond package.
This summer, district officials projected a budget deficit over $30 million for the 2026-27 school year.
On the VATRE side, NISD is proposing a 3-cent increase to the maintenance and operations rate.
NISD will also ask voters to pass an $886.2 million bond package divided into three propositions. District officials aren’t proposing any changes to the I&S rate however. The last time NISD voters passed a school tax proposal was in 2022 for a $992 bond package.
What is NISD’s Prop A?
Proposition A is the district’s VATRE, a 3-cent increase to the M&O rate that would unlock an extra $21.5 million that the school district wants to primarily use for pay increases for teachers and auxiliary staff, some of whom make less than $15 an hour.
The VATRE would move NISD’s tax rate from $1.0049 to $1.0349 per $100 of taxable property value if voters OK it, resulting in roughly $30 more per year for every $100,000 in home value.
Ballot language: This is a tax increase. Ratifying the ad valorem tax rate of $1.0349 per $100 valuation in Northside Independent School District for the current year, a rate that will result in an increase of 4.49% in maintenance and operations tax revenue for the district for the current year as compared to the preceding year, which is an additional $21,533,914.
What is NISD’s Prop B?
Proposition B would generate $764,745,000 for building renovations, roofing, new school buses, safety and security upgrades and HVAC replacements.
Ballot language: This is a tax increase. The issuance of not to exceed $764,745,000 of Northside Independent School District school building bonds for the purposes of designing, constructing, renovating, improving, upgrading, updating, acquiring, and equipping school facilities in the District, the purchase of the necessary sites for school facilities, the purchase of new buses and vehicles, and the retrofitting of buses and vehicles with emergency, safety, or security equipment, and the levying of a tax sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds and the cost of any credit agreements.
What is NISD’s Prop C?
Proposition C would reserve $56 million to replace classroom technology.
Ballot language: This is a tax increase. The issuance of not to exceed $56,000,000 of Northside Independent School District school building bonds for the purposes of acquiring and updating instructional technology equipment and the levying of a tax sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds and the cost of any credit agreements.
What is NISD’s Prop D?
Proposition D would use $65.5 million to replace and renovate the district’s George Block Aquatics Center.
Ballot language: The issuance of not to exceed $65,500,000 of Northside Independent School District school building bonds for the purposes of designing, constructing, renovating, improving, upgrading, updating, expanding, replacing, acquiring, and equipping natatoriums in the District (and any necessary or related removal of existing facilities), including replacing the George Block Aquatics Center, and the levying of a tax sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds and the cost of any credit agreements.
