Texas schools asked voters for $18 billion in new debt to fix its campuses. They largely said yes – By Carlos Nogueras Ramos and Pooja Salhotra (Texas Tribune) / Nov 9, 2023
The voter approval rate for school maintenance and construction costs dipped in 2021 after lawmakers required school boards to call them “tax increases.”
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ODESSA — Delma Abalos was stunned.
In the years she has served as a vice president of the school board in Ector County, there was never enough cash to pay for every pressing maintenance repair that came up. She would fret over every loose wire, broken air conditioning unit, or portable classroom, never mind building new facilities.
The lifelong Odessan had attempted over the last decade to bring together her community to create a blueprint she and the school board would translate into a bond proposal, one of few ways schools can obtain cash for large-scale infrastructure projects by asking voters to approve new debt.
Voters said no. Until Tuesday night.
CONTINUE > https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/09/texas-school-bonds-approved/
