On Aug. 2, three local school superintendents and two San Antonio-area state representatives sat beside one another on an education panel, publicly discussing the state of public schools after a legislative session brimming with new education laws.

The message from the three superintendents — representing San Antonio, Judson, and Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School Districts — was unanimous: public schools did not get enough money during the 89th Texas Legislative Session.

“You’d be hard pressed to find a school district across the city right now who’s not considering a voter approved tax ratification,” said Milton Fields, superintendent for Judson ISD. “We can’t wait to receive the funds from the state.”

State Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio) and state Sen. José Menéndez (D-San Antonio) joined the education leaders for a State of Education Legislative Briefing, which was hosted by public school advocacy group Bexar County Education Coalition.

Weeks later, Judson’s school board agreed to put a 4.5-cent property tax increase up to voters in November, and at least three other districts in the Bexar County region joined in asking voters for more money.

The move to get on the ballot comes after the state’s top leaders celebrated passing a “record” public school funding bill, House Bill 2, aimed mostly at giving teachers raises.

But most school districts leaders don’t see the $8.2 billion infusion to public schools as a big win — they say it leaves districts footing the bill to implement the raises while leaving other employees out.

Nearly all San Antonio-area school districts face budget deficits, and a state-wide survey by the Texas Association of School Business Officials found that 63% of school districts expect to end the 2025 fiscal year in financial shortfall.

Judson ISD, serving roughly 23,000 students on the far North East, is no exception.

The district has a budget deficit upward of $37 million. If voters say yes to the tax increase, the district could unlock an extra $21 million every year to fund student programs, support services including special education and dyslexia and compensation.

Judson ISD students, staff and community members are shown waiting in the board room of the Judson ISD Educational Resource Center during a closed session at a May 2025 board meeting where three elementary schools were at risk of being closed. Credit: Amber Esparza / San Antonio Report

The district has already made several cuts or “efficiencies,” Fields said, including cutting preschool for 3-year-olds, cutting campus positions and laying off many central office employees. Briefly, the board even considered closing a few school campuses to save money but ultimately voted against it.

If Judson’s voter-approved tax rate election doesn’t come through, Fields expects the district will have to keep looking for efficiencies.

Public school funding on the ballot

Like Judson, East Central and Schertz-Cibolo-Universal ISDs are going after voter-approved tax rate elections.

East Central wants voters to approve a 5-cent increase to the maintenance and operations tax rate, which can be used for the day-to-day costs of running schools.

Currently facing a budget deficit of $4.6 million, the district would unlock an extra $7.6 million a year to fund school safety, employee benefits and raises for teachers and other employees who didn’t qualify for mandatory raises under HB 2.

The decision to go after a voter-approved tax increase comes on the heels of a $309 million bond passage that East Central voters said yes to in May, incurring an 8-cent property tax increase.

Before that, East Central voters rejected a bigger ask in November, following a statewide trend of school bond fatigue during the 2024 general elections. East Central is unique, however, since it’s one of the only school districts in the region outpacing its enrollment each year and outgrowing its facilities.

Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City voters will be asked to approve a 6-cent increase to collect at least $16 million more in revenue for compensation not covered under HB 2, student programs, new technology and safety and security.

While the district’s school board was able to pass a balanced budget for the 2025-26 school year, officials still felt it was necessary to ask voters for funding that wasn’t tied to HB 2 mandates.

Paige Meloni, superintendent for Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD, was also on the Aug. 2 education legislative panel. She said several of the district’s cost drivers are outside personnel.

Without more money, “we’re going to have some tough decisions to make in the future,” Meloni added.

Both Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City and Judson ISDs are moving pennies from their interest and sinking rates, which can only go toward paying off bond debts, to their maintenance and operations rate, which are funds the districts can use more liberally.

North East Independent School District is going after a $495 million bond package for hundreds of capital renovation projects, new technology for students and added campus safety and cybersecurity measures. If passed, the district said taxpayers won’t see a property tax increase. Bonds can’t go toward staff pay.

The second-largest district in San Antonio serving roughly 55,000 students, North East has gone 10 years without a bond election and projects an $18 million budget shortfall for the 2025-26 school year.

A ‘historic’ investment in teachers

“When this session ends we will provide more funding than ever in the history of our state for our public schools,” Gov. Greg Abbott said during a February visit to a private Christian school in San Antonio. During that visit, Abbott also urged parents to support education savings accounts, ESAs, which have been a priority of his in the past few years.

Months later, Abbott signed HB 2 into law, but only after state lawmakers passed ESAs, setting aside $1 billion for some families to pay for private school tuition, therapy and other education-related costs. To be eligible for an ESA, students cannot be enrolled in a public school.

HB 2, Abbott said, was a record investment in the state’s teachers.

During the August panel, Rep. Lujan agreed with Abbott.

“We do have the largest teacher pay raise in history. We put that forward,” Lujan said when asked about the bill’s impact. “We have to have the best teachers in our districts, because that trickles down for the rest of our school system.” 

Lujan pointed to Somerset Independent School District in his H118 district. Somerset is a small rural district on the South Side of town that has academically outperformed most school districts in the area in the past few years.

“They invest heavily in their teachers … and it makes a huge difference,” he said.

Under HB 2, Somerset ISD will get larger teacher raises than most school districts in the Bexar County area since it has an enrollment under 5,000 students.

Teachers with three to five years of experience in a small or rural school district get $4,000 raises, and teachers with more than five years of experience get $8,000 raises. In larger school districts, similarly experienced teachers get $2,500 and $5,000 respectively.

Critics of HB 2 also say the bill lists a very narrow definition of classroom teacher, leaving out employees who are also critical to a student’s development.

In the past, state-mandated teacher raises also applied to campus counselors and librarians.

As for the budget deficits many school districts face, Lujan said district leaders need to take more responsibility, comparing school districts to businesses that need to run “smoothly and efficiently.”

School districts would have an easier time doing that if the state had significantly increased the basic allotment, a base amount schools receive from the state per student, said Steve Allison, a former Republic state representative and former Alamo Heights Independent School District board member.

Allison, a moderate, was pushed out of the 2024 primaries after Abbott launched an attack campaign against Republicans opposed to school vouchers. Rep. Marc Lahood (R-San Antonio), a champion of school vouchers, ended up taking his spot.

The state hasn’t significantly increased the basic allotment, a much more discretionary type of funding, since 2019. This year, lawmakers increased the allotment by $55, a far cry from the $1,300 increase public school advocates said was needed to make up for inflation.

The basic allotment is the great equalizer of public school funding, Allison said. By increasing the allotment, school districts can address the deficits and get the money “where it’s truly needed.”

HB 2 went a “long way” in terms of teacher pay, Allison admitted, but it’s “overly prescriptive.” School districts should have more local control to address local interests, he said.

School funding ties to property taxes

Currently, the state is trying to roll back local government control. In November, voters are expected to pass larger homestead exemptions, and Abbott is trying to further cap taxable property value growth at 1%. The cap is currently 3.5%.

Both measures would mean less revenue-collecting power for school districts.

At East Central, even if the tax increase gets approved, a homeowner with the proposed homestead exemptions could end up paying less in property taxes for the 2025 fiscal year compared to last year.

Even if the homestead exemptions don’t pass and the state doesn’t further cap growth, Bexar County’s appraisal values remained largely flat compared to previous years, which could be a problem given that HB 2 tied any increase in the basic allotment to property taxes.

While the $55 increase to the basic allotment is guaranteed for the next two years, future legislative sessions could yield smaller increases or even none at all if property values stall or decrease.

“There were so many people that warned [lawmakers] up and down not to do this part [of the bill],” said Julia Grizzard, public school lobbyist and executive director for Bexar County Education Coalition.

“It’s going to be a very detrimental part of the education code of policy moving forward,” she told the Report.

Also detrimental to public school funding, Grizzard said HB 2 detached the golden penny yield from property taxes.

How much the state “yields” through golden pennies used to rely on how property-rich a school district is, yielding more money for property-poor districts and less for property-rich districts.

School districts are entitled to eight golden pennies — tax increase proposals for East Central, Judson and Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City all include golden pennies.

The range of golden penny yield used to shift with property values, but HB 2 effectively froze it, meaning school districts that are reaching the frozen level on their own property tax rates can continue to collect more property tax revenue. Meanwhile school districts collecting less revenue in property taxes may never catch up, being kept at the same golden penny yield rate by the sate.

“There’s a deep inequity there,” Grizzard said.

Judson ISD Superintendent Milton Fields is pictured during a school board meeting in June 2024. Credit: Brenda Bazán / San Antonio Report

Future increases to the basic allotment will be funded through whatever property tax revenues are leftover from the property-rich school districts.

While school district leaders agree that HB 2’s investment in teachers was needed, especially as the state has faced teacher shortages and an increased reliance on uncertified teachers in recent years, they maintain it’s not enough to keep them going.

“Nobody understands more than me the value of a teacher in the classroom making connections with students,” Judson superintendent Fields said as he sat right next to Lujan. “But there’s a host of other employees in the district that are being negated.”

“Until we start receiving funds that aren’t tied to these mandates, then we’re not going to be able to make up in the area where we’re deficient.”