With early voting beginning Tuesday, campaigns to sway voters one way or another on the pair of bonds on the ballot is intensifying.
While the San Angelo United political-action committee represents an organized front in support of the school bond, and the Rodeo and live-music folks rally to support the coliseum bond, opposition to both measures is less centralized, but quite vocal.
Opposition Relies On Social Media
Yard signs urging “NO” votes on both bonds began appearing within days of the bond elections being called, as opponents also took to social media to share their viewpoints with a wider community.
Mike Stewart is a local business owner who also has rent houses in town and says he is 100-percent against the bonds, because it will be hard on everybody when rent and property taxes go up, and there’s too much uncertainty surrounding the future of schools in Texas.
“I tell my customers, ‘Everybody’s rent is going to be going up if those bonds pass’… and when they vote those vouchers in here in a while, SAISD is going to go broke.
Stewart is originally from Boston, Mass. but attended schools in San Angelo and graduated from here, and he said his kids went to school outside of town, or private school, because he felt they would get a better education.
Stewart said he supports vouchers, and thinks school funding should “follow the kid” if parents want to enroll their child in a private school.
“I’m, 100-percent for that,” he said.
Stewart said he’s very frustrated by property taxes going up all the time, adding that he puts in time every year to protest, which is time-consuming and tedious.
Property Taxes A Gimmick
“I hate property taxes, and I think it’s a big gimmick,” he said. “Every year I try to help some people who can’t afford these increases, but don’t know how to protest their taxes.”
Stewart said he feels that being on the hook for almost $400 million over the next few decades is too risky with everything that’s going on.
“I see both sides,” he said. “I see that the schools are old — but when’s the last time you saw an administrator fired because our schools don’t succeed?
“I’m just looking at the numbers,” he said. “I’m a numbers guy, and you’ve got 100,000 people in San Angelo, and what’s about to happen in the legislature — the vouchers; What’s that going to do?”
“… Like that Coliseum Bond. I don’t care what you say, you’re never going to get a big group, or concert to come here and play shows, because there’s not enough young people here to support that.”
Stewart talked about the changing demographics of San Angelo and said the town needs to figure out what’s next.
“San Angelo has to figure out if they’re going to keep it a retirement town, or if they want to try to get bigger, like Austin. That’s what they need to figure out.
“But they’re not thinking about the poor people in this town; I’ll give you an example — my daughter: She’s a single mother and bought her a house, and the property taxes are going up every year, and I’m fighting for her every year, because she’s not getting a raise. Who is giving her a raise to pay for those property taxes?
“She’s tired of being taxed. All these young people are,” he said.
Social Media Battle Over School Bond
Meanwhile, on San Angelo area Facebook groups, the posts in opposition to the school bond have been steady, as have the counter-posts.
A survey of postings related to the subject on the San Angelo 411 page since the bond election was called in February shows plenty of posts in opposition.
These posts garnered on average between 5-25 comments. Comments on a select few posts run into the hundreds.
While the comments section represents an unmoderated discussion, several themes became apparent in opposition posts.
Here is a look at the five most-frequent complaints from opponents of the school bonds.
“We’re still paying for the last bond.”
(Mentioned in roughly 25-percent of comment threads)
Fact Check
In Texas, school bonds are required to reach maturity at no-more than 40 years, and are issued for various maturities depending on variables such as the type of asset being financed.
They normally take decades to pay off, just like a home mortgage.
A 20-year bond pays off the principal faster, and 30-year bond allows for lower payments. School districts often issue serial bonds, meaning the bonds mature at different dates over the course of the debt cycle.
A more accurate way to analyze spending by districts is to examine the debt-per-student ratio.
In Texas, the average school district debt-per-student is around $33,542, according to information from the Texas Education Agency.
In fiscal-year 2022, the most-recent year for which data is available, the 10 largest districts collectively owed more than $31.4 billion, which equals roughly $31,200 per student.
The highest debt-per-student rate for 2022 was in the Frisco ISD at $51,890.
San Angelo ISD’s total outstanding debt obligations as of Aug. 31, 2024, are $79,701,562, which equals a debt-per-student rate of $6,047. (13,180)
“The school board is greedy/corrupt.”
(Mentioned in about one-third of comment threads)
Fact Check
Aside from omitted memorandums or other minor lapses in full transparency, none of these commenters has ever offered any evidence of greed or corruption.
Since 1985, local voters have said “No” to six of the last 10 bond propositions, approving spending in 1985, 1996 and 2008.
When voters agreed to almost $7 million in 1985, it had been nine years since the district’s last bond approval. School officials had to wait 11 years for the next one.
It has now been 17 years since voters gave trustees the green light to initiate major construction, or address much-needed, expensive repairs — the longest unfunded stretch in school-district history.
“The administrators make too much money.”
(Mentioned in half of comment threads)
Fact Check
The percentage of Texans who are upset by public-school employees earning six-figure incomes drops dramatically if the conversation turns to football coaches.
Most public-school administrators in Texas are paid on par with their peers in comparable districts. San Angelo central administration and campus administration salaries are slightly lower by comparison when set against comparable districts.
“If they would manage the budget better, we wouldn’t need a bond.”
(Mentioned in 10-percent of comment threads)
Fact Check
Funding for capital improvement or new construction is financed through public bonds. This is the mechanism Texas has for building schools.
State funding does not cover parking lots, desks or brick walls.
“Property taxes are too high!”
(Mentioned in almost every comment thread)
Fact Check
Despite conventional wisdom of Texas being a low-tax state, Texas has the 10th-highest combined-tax-rate in the nation at 8.25 percent, and one of the highest property taxes, with an estimated effective-rate of 1.75 percent.
According to the most recent information from the TEA, about 56 percent of funding for public schools is local, with the state kicking in 27 percent and the federal government supplying the remaining 17 percent.
A Breakdown of Your Property Taxes
Taxing entities in Texas have two tax rates: The “M&O” or maintenance and operations rate, which covers the cost of employees, equipment and just about everything else, except bond debts.
Bond debt is covered by the “I&S” or interest and sinking rate, which covers the principal and interest (debt service) on public-issue bonds.
For Tom Green County operations, property owners will pay a total rate of $0.4729 per $100 valuation, so a $200,000 home would be taxed $945.80 for the county.
That will include $849.28 for their share of the cost of Tom Green County government, which includes the majority expenses associated with the local criminal-justice system. (Tom Green County. M&O rate of $0.42464)
That will also include $96.52 for debt service for the county. (Tom Green County debt service rate of $0.04826)
The current San Angelo ISD ad-valorem tax rate is $0.81231 per-$100 valuation.
The M&O portion, which is $0.7249, would equal $1,449.80 for a $200,000 home with no exemptions, along with the I&S portion of $174.82 for a total of $1,624.62.
The City of San Angelo ad-valorem tax rate is $0.7544 per-$100 valuation with the following breakdown:
- General Fund M&O – $0.6178 or $1,235.60 for a $200,000 home with no exemptions.
- Streets Fund M&O – $0.0072 or $14.40
- Debt service – $0.1294 or $258.80
That totals $1,508.80 for the City of San Angelo.
The Bottom Line
The grand total for a $200,000 home with no exemptions inside the city of San Angelo would be $4,079.22 with the following breakdown:
- SAISD – 39.86 %
- City of San Angelo – 36.97%
- Tom Green Co. – 23.17%
