Houston Independent School District’s 2024-2025 budget reveals a $2 million allocation for planning a bond election. The 2024 bond was ultimately shot down by voters, but the allocation has sparked concerns about the district’s use of public funds and the legality of its spending.
Last November, Houston ISD presented a $4.4 billion bond to Houston voters, making it the largest school bond proposal in state history. The proposed bond would have cost taxpayers nearly $9 billion after interest.
The bond included plans for school rebuilds, renovations, and upgrades to safety and security. However, Houston voters overwhelmingly rejected the proposal by a margin of 58 percent. Interestingly, both the Republican and Democrat parties in Harris County stood united in opposing the bond.
In the meantime, a closer look at the 2024-2025 Adopted Budget reveals the cost of the bond while it was being planned, before it was ever presented to voters.
On page 47 of the budget, a line item under “Key Action 2” focuses on requesting a bond election for November 2024. This section outlines the purpose, the lead department, the estimated cost, and additional notes related to the expenditure. The budget estimates the cost at $2 million, specifically stating that the funds are “related to putting the plan together and hiring a consulting group to support” the effort.
Former U.S. Attorney Ryan Patrick raised concerns about the wording, saying, “That support word, that’s a big problem. If they are trying to be very clever and they are trying to follow the law with that one exception, you would want to be very careful and not say support.”
The issue stems from the Texas Election Code, which states that “An officer or employee of a political subdivision may not knowingly spend or authorize the spending of public funds for political advertising.” However, Subsection B clarifies that “Subsection (a) does not apply to a communication that factually describes the purposes of a measure if the communication does not advocate passage or defeat of the measure.”
Thus, according to the election code, public funds may not be used for communications that could influence a voter to support or oppose a measure.
In addition to the use of the word “support” in the budget, Houston ISD also published a promotional post on social media on October 10, 2024— during early voting—which specifically used the phrase “RENEW HISD,” along with proposed actions for Browning Elementary.
Despite multiple attempts by local media outlet KPRC 2 to get clarity from Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles, he has consistently refused to address the line item. In one exchange, he remarked, “Thank you for that, but that is another time and another place. You’ll get your time when the time is right.”
Texas Scorecard reached out to Houston ISD for comment, but did not receive a response before publication.