By: Bill King Voters decisively rejected Houston ISD’s request to approve $4.4 billion in bonds to rebuild and renovate some of its facilities. The proposal was the larg- est bond proposal in the state’s history. For many years, it was unusual for voters to give the thumbs down to bonds for public schools. That trend began unwinding a few years ago, as taxpayers began to recoil from proposals that included lavish athletic facilities in particular. Also, a new Texas law in 2021, which required school districts to state that approving the bond would result in a tax increase, put a damper on new proposals. Nonetheless, a study done by the Texas Tribune found that in recent years, 70-80% of school bond proposals were approved by voters. But in most cases, even when bonds were rejected by the voters, the vote was close. But not so in HISD’s case. The final vote was 58-42 against. I could not find definitive statistics, but I suspect this is one of the worst school bond defeats in the State’s history. So, why did voters so soundly reject this proposal? I think there were two factors. First, rightly or not, for many the election became a referendum on Mike Miles’ leadership of the District. It is clear that Miles is wildly unpopular. His accomplishments in raising test scores in historically low performing schools have been swamped by his imperious, tone-death leadership style, which has managed to offend almost everyone. One of his worst blunders in my estimation has been the personnel shake-ups in schools that were performing well. He has repeatedly broken the old adage - “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” But beyond the Miles factor, the bond proposal was ill-conceived. There is no doubt that many of HISD’s schools are decrepit and badly in need of repair and renovation as was dramatically laid out in this Houston Chronicle story. But this proposal went far beyond that kind of triage. Those laying out this proposal seemed to be oblivious to HISD’s declining enrollment. In the last decade, the District’s enrollment has dropped from […]
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