Houston ISD voters are overwhelmingly willing to support a school bond package to upgrade campuses throughout the district, according to polling released Thursday, though questions remain about whether residents will back a $4.4 billion proposal on the ballot in November.

New polling by Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research revealed three-quarters of 1,900 HISD residents surveyed in recent weeks said that they would back a school bond package that didn’t raise their property tax rates.

The finding bodes well for the district’s multibillion-dollar bond proposal this year, which doesn’t include a tax rate increase, but the temperature check leaves some uncertainty about whether voters will support the package. 

The survey did not ask about HISD’s $4.4 billion proposal, which was not finalized at the time researchers conducted the polling, but rather a theoretical bond that did not raise taxes. HISD’s proposal would fund rebuilding campuses, fixing faulty air systems, upgrading school security and providing other improvements.

The results show little change in community support for an HISD bond since Rice researchers conducted similar polling six months ago. During that span, HISD’s leadership has made drastic budget cuts, ousted dozens of principals and posted major gains in student test scores.

“That’s really why we redid the survey in August, because a lot has happened between January and August in the district … so we really were curious to see if that was going to move the needle,” said Kori Stroub, associate director of research for the Kinder Institute’s Houston Education Research Consortium. “And it really didn’t at all.”

HISD’s bond proposal pits the widely acknowledged need for rebuilding and renovating old schools against community frustration with the state takeover of the district last year and frayed trust in appointed Superintendent Mike Miles.

Supporters of the school bond, which would be the largest in Texas history, say HISD is long overdue for billions of dollars in updates. Large districts typically pass a bond roughly every five years, but HISD hasn’t done so since 2012 largely due to voter frustration with the district’s leadership. 

However, a faction of the HISD community has vocally opposed the November bond, arguing that the city cannot trust Miles — the architect of a dramatic and controversial program overhauling dozens of schools — to responsibly manage billions of dollars.

Voters in each Texas school district decide whether to approve bonds, which allow the district to finance infrastructure and technology investments. Districts pay for the costs with property tax revenue. HISD has said it does not need to hike tax rates for the November bond thanks to rising property values in the city.

In the decade since HISD’s last bond vote, some campuses saw worsening problems with mold, leaky roofs and outdated ventilation systems. On a recent tour of Fondren Middle School, Principal LaKia Jackson pointed out drips from an air conditioning unit that she said had grown mold.

“Because of the age of the (air conditioning), it needs to be completely replaced and not repaired,” Jackson said. “This just presents a health concern.”

Still, bond elections are often seen as a referendum on the school district’s leadership. Some HISD residents have rallied behind the slogan “no trust, no bond,” arguing Miles and the district’s state-appointed board shouldn’t oversee billions of dollars in new spending.

At an August school board meeting, HISD parent Dawn Elliott told board members she plans to vote against the proposal because of frustration with their past spending decisions.

“You have repeatedly lied to our community and gone against promises made,” Elliott said. “Please explain why taxpayers should be willing to trust this board to invest in the very public education system you seem so determined to destroy.”

Despite the vocal opposition, Stroub said his polling suggests bond opponents represent a minority of the community.

“There are folks who are using this as an opportunity to exercise their vote where they feel like maybe that was taken away from them with the state takeover,” Stroub said. “I don’t really have a great sense of the actual proportion of folks that feel that way. … But it does seem like, at least according to our data, that there is a lot of support for (the bond).”

Former staff writer Fallon Head contributed to this report.

Asher Lehrer-Small covers Houston ISD for the Landing. Reach him at asher@houstonlanding.org.

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