Northside ISD weighs next steps after rejecting VATRE, bond propositions

Northside Independent School District leaders are reviewing budget and efficiency audits after voters rejected a tax increase and bond propositions to help pay for campus improvements on election day.

The three bond propositions would have paid for a new aquatic center, campus renovations, buses and technology. The Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election would have brought in money that was planned to provide Northside ISD staff a raise.

The district’s interim superintendent, Jessica Palomares, aims for transparency during future board meetings as the district identifies the best way to move forward without additional income.

“There’s going to be some tough decisions we’re going to have to make but we are going to be transparent in the process and we’re going to involve our community,” Palomares said.

Melina Espiritu-Azocar, president of the Northside American Federation of Teachers, a local teacher union, said this has been disappointing but that she is hopeful for the future of teacher pay and public education funding after election day.

“Certainly disappointed that the VATRE did not pass,” Espiritu-Azocar said. “It was $45 million it was supposed to generate to come into the district with $35 million of that being used for staff pay and that was incredibly important to us.”

It is unclear if staff raises are possible moving forward without the money a tax increase would have provided the district.

“We’re working on current plans to look at our current budget to see where we might have opportunity to re-prioritize and be very strategic in our planning, looking at some of our efficiency audits to see what we might be able to make some change,” Palomares said.

Though the VATRE did not pass, Espiritu-Azocar finds comfort in the people elected to office on election night.

“The voters were very clear that they expected that the folks they put into office were gonna do something for public education,” Espiritu-Azocar said.

Texas Education Freedom Accounts have been the center of many conversations surrounding public schools not having enough money to function properly without closing schools.

“We’re spending billions of dollars on vouchers and we absolutely have been adamantly against any voucher or expansion of vouchers,” Espiritu-Azocar said. “Unfortunately, the governor of Texas primaried his own party to make sure that vouchers were passed and they did pass in the last legislative session. So, our expectation is those are going to be rolled back.”

According to the Texas Education Freedom Account website, 7,077 students who live in Northside ISD applied for TEFA. However, it is unclear how many of those students attended Northside ISD prior to applying for TEFA.

KSAT asked Palomares about the possibility of school closures given the budget deficit and rejected VATRE and bond propositions.

“Right now, we have not had any formal decisions,” Palomares said. “When those conversations come, they will be transparent and everybody will be informed.”

Espiritu-Azocar said Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa has made her hopeful for the future of public education in Texas.

“Gina Hinojosa was here at our union hall on the Sunday before the largest election cycle…and I think she was very clear, help is on the way,” Espiritu-Azocar said. “She doubled down that she plans to fire the commissioner of education who has threatened and held takeovers over the heads of our public ISD’s so we’re hopeful.”

Read also:

• Voters reject majority of school district bonds, tax rate increases
• Northside ISD faces budget cuts, salary questions after voters reject tax increase