Several Northside Education Foundation board members are affiliated with businesses that stand to benefit from the passage of Northside ISD’s November bond proposals.
Northside ISD voters are set to consider three bond propositions, with a repayment cost of about $1.84 billion, on the November 3 ballot.
The Northside Bond Committee PAC has raised about $230,000 from businesses.
Among the contributors were construction, architecture, and engineering firms represented on the foundation’s board. The foundation is a separate nonprofit that supports grants, scholarships, and enrichment programs; it does not control the district’s bonds.
Lilia Gibson, president of the board, is a managing partner at Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP. Linebarger donated $7,500 to the pro-bond PAC this year.
NISD also has a contract with Linebarger until 2030 for delinquent tax collection.
Melissa Jourdan, vice president of development for the board, is a project manager with Joeris General Contractors. Joeris contributed $10,000 in monetary support and another $1,500 in in-kind support to the PAC.
Jerry Lammers, board secretary, is affiliated with Alamo Architects, which donated $11,500, including in-kind contributions.
NEF directors Wade Cleary and Tim Martin are affiliated with Cleary Zimmermann Engineers and Bartlett Cocke General Contractors, respectively. Each company donated $9,000 this year.
Texas Education 911 highlighted on X the connections between foundation board members and corporate PAC contributors. “A substantial portion of the largest PAC donors are architecture, engineering, and general contracting firms whose employees or principals sit on (or have sat on) the NEF board.”
“These are the same categories of firms that typically bid on or perform school construction, renovation, infrastructure, and related work funded by bond proceeds,” TexasEd911 noted.
The overlapping affiliations do not, by themselves, establish improper influence or preferential treatment in district contracting.
D. L. Bandy Constructors Inc. made the largest donation at $15,000.
Other donors to the pro-bond PAC include Airco Mechanical, American Interiors, Automatic Fire Protection, Central Electric Enterprises, Pfluger Architects, Eilers Steel Erection, and Nunnelly General Contractors.
Among the three November 2026 bond propositions is $329 million for renovation, reconstruction, and upgrades.
Several of the 2026 pro-bond PAC donors also received bids on construction projects from the 2022 NISD bonds.
Approximate construction costs of multiple contracts the donors received in 2022 include:
- Joeris General Contractors: $145 million
- Alamo Architects: $141 million
- Bartlett Cocke General Contractors: $107 million
- Nunnelly General Contractors: $61 million
- Pfluger Architects: $37 million
- D. L. Bandy Constructors: $31 million
NISD releases regular reports on bond project progress, contract amounts, and consultants.
The district has faced scrutiny in the past for bond election shenanigans. In 2022, Texas investigated NISD for allegedly pressuring employees to vote for the billion-dollar bond. NISD also allegedly made bond presentations during school hours.
All three bond proposals and a Voter Approval Tax Rate Election will appear on the November 3 ballot, with early voting ongoing until Friday, October 30.
