Internal emails released by a staff member at Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District reveal that the district is tracking whether district staff have or have not voted in the May 2 school bond election.
While the school district cannot track how an employee voted, it can track who has voted.
According to an email posted on social media, the district reminded employees of the bond proposition, offered information on it through an attached link to the bond’s website, and also announced that they are tracking participation across the district.
“Based on publicly available early voting rosters (April 20-23), we are tracking participation by campus and department,” the email reads.
Attached to the email was a graph showing the number of registered voters compared to those who have voted in each campus across the district.
In response to the news from SCUCISD, Dr. Mary Bone, a K-12 education activist, posted a clip on X from a 2022 Round Rock Independent School District board of trustees meeting in which she voiced concerns of training being presented that advocates for such practices.
Dr. Bone’s concern was voiced to Missy Bender, the then regional advocacy director for Raise Your Hand Texas, who previously served as president of the Plano Independent School District board of trustees.
Dr. Bone pointed out that in the material provided, it teaches trustees to “track and report on staff member voting rates.” She proceeded to tell Bender that, after talking to teachers across multiple school districts, those teachers find such a policy very offensive.
“School trustees are being trained to use your tax dollars to monitor and report their employees’ voting history,” posted Dr. Bone. “Is this coercion?”
The Proposed School Bond
The proposed $295 million bond package will be presented to voters in a three proposition format:
Proposition A: $230,735,000 ($452,526,941 with interest) for general facility renovations.
Proposition B: $55,305,000 ($124,202,040 with interest) for renovations to several district stadium facilities.
Proposition C: $9,065,000 ($10,963,004 with interest) for technology replacement.
The district currently has $417,413,368 in outstanding debt.
Due to having a lower tax base, the district suggested a higher I&S tax rate may be necessary to generate funding for voter-approved bond projects.
