School districts are required by state law to ask voters for permission to sell bonds to investors in order to raise the funds that will be paid to complete projects such as a renovation to existing buildings, building a new school, or purchasing equipment related to safety and security. Essentially, the voters are giving permission for the District to take out a loan and pay that loan back over an extended period of time, much like a family takes out a mortgage loan for their home. A school board calls a bond election so voters can decide whether or not they want to pay for proposed projects.

If bonds are approved by voters, bonds are sold to investors.

Proceeds are used for approved capital projects.

The tax rate is set in two parts: one to cover the operating costs (payroll, supplies, equipment, insurance, utilities, etc.) and the other to pay principal & interest due on the bonds each year.

It is different. One proposition includes projects that focus on the safety and security needs of the District. The other proposition includes the construction of a new elementary school and a new middle school to address enrollment pressures on the north-side of the District and eliminate the need for portable buildings, which are inefficient to operate and present safety and security risks.

The Judson ISD Growth and Planning Committee was comprised of parents, teachers, campus administrators, and community members. The Committee has met since January to study district needs at all grade levels and campuses and discuss the future vision for Judson ISD students.  The group studied internal district-wide facilities and infrastructure assessments, demographic projections, and other data. The Committee shared the vision of prioritizing items and projects that focused on safety and security measures, as well as recommending the building of a new elementary and new middle school. The Committee’s recommendation was considered and approved by the Board of Trustees on August 18, 2022.

In order to vote you must be registered in the state of Texas and meet certain eligibility:

• You are a United States citizen.
• You are at least 18 years old on Election Day
• You are not a convicted felon
• You have not been declared by a court to be totally or partially mentally incapacitated without the right to vote

To vote for the Judson ISD Bond, you must reside within the boundaries of Judson ISD. The deadline to register to vote is October 11th.  Voter registration cards are available at our district offices and campuses. Find more information from the Bexar County Elections Department. 

There are two propositions in the bond proposal. The ballot is set up for voters to cast a vote in favor or against each proposition separately.  An example of the actual ballot can be found on the website. We encourage individuals to become familiar with the ballot before voting day.

Staff shortages have been a challenge in many school districts as of late. The Human Resources Department is strengthening our recruiting and hiring efforts including offering more job fairs and attending recruiting events with colleges both locally and around the state. We have also worked to ensure that teacher pay is competitive to surrounding districts and that we provide our teachers with relevant and timely professional development, leadership opportunities and recognition. Although we cannot be sure that further challenges to staff schools will not be present in the future, we will continuously focus efforts to ensure we recruit, hire and retain teachers- even for the new schools.

The bonds may be sold anywhere from 45-60 days after the bond election. Generally, once a bond issue passes, the architects begin the design work and the bid process. Construction itself will begin several months after the election.

Right now, the district is using portable buildings to address over-enrollment in schools that are over capacity.  We have also opened several new teaching positions based on the increase in enrollment at certain schools.

Safety and security is the priority in the Bond and is intended to enable the district to replace outdated public address systems, upgrade and equip safety fencing and gates, add and upgrade security cameras, improve access control, add automatic lockdown ability, implement playground surface improvements, and ensure safety and security projects can be supported by strengthening our technology infrastructure.

Judson ISD will utilize bond dollars to improve the District’s transportation program. The purchase of additional buses will allow the district to improve efficiencies in the transportation service we provide to students and parents and create the space necessary to accommodate buses serving our increasing number of bus riders.  

Yes, elementary playgrounds throughout the District will receive improvements using bond dollars. The update will include additional fencing and rubberized surfaces to improve the safety of the play areas.

Proposition A does address playground improvements with the focus being on safety and security. Specifically, the plan is to address playground surfaces and equipment that needs to be improved or replaced. We are currently discussing plans to address appropriate play areas for our youngest learners that may not be addressed in this bond.

Proposition A is focused on both safety and security measures for our district. This bond would allow for replacing outdated boilers and chillers, which are needed to support the improvements in the district’s technology infrastructure ensuring these systems do not fail.  Additionally, properly performing boilers and chillers allow for campus to be properly secured, especially when there is extreme weather.

Yes. The projects targeting technology infrastructure for the purpose of safety and security, will address the issues of increasing accessibility, increasing Wi-Fi, and strengthening our network. The expansion of our network would be addressed by creating an additional hub that would improve the speed and quality of internet traffic.

Yes. This bond would allow for improvements to technology infrastructure such as enhanced Wi-Fi, disaster recovery cyber security, and firewalls to improve the security and reliability of the network.

Proposition A focuses on both safety and security measures for our district. Certain gyms do not have air conditioning. Therefore, the doors, including large roll-up doors, are left open on hot days for ventilation and cooling, which presents challenges to properly securing the campus. Adding air conditioning and new roofing to gyms would make school campuses more secure.

Judson ISD is still experiencing significant growth in student enrollment.  Building a new elementary school (elementary #21) and middle school (middle school #6) will address the overcrowding in that area and put the District in a position to accommodate increased student enrollment in the future.  Keeping up with growth also enables the district to maintain smaller class size and reduce the number of portable buildings that are being used.

The new middle school is estimated to be occupied by the Fall of 2025.

The new elementary school is estimated to be occupied by the Fall of 2025.

The District is working with Bexar County Public Works on a traffic study.

If the bond passes, the District estimates that construction on the middle schools would begin in 2023 and take about 24 to 30 months to complete.

As of mid-September, the District had 26,065 students enrolled. Of those students, 567 are out-of-district transfer students which is about 2% of our enrollment.

School of choice offers Judson ISD families the option to choose any school within our district. There are a little over 1,800 students, or 7% of our enrollment, who are enrolled in using the school of choice option (not zoned to that specific campus).  The campuses with the highest percentages provide specific programs. Those campuses serve as a hub campus to provide specific services to students whose home campus does not offer them, such as our bilingual/dual language schools.

We estimate a repayment schedule of around 25 years for each issuance.  We estimate we will have 3 issuances depending on conditions at that time.   We estimate that the tax rate increase would take place for the 2024 tax year.

Judson ISD has lowered its school tax rate for four consecutive years. The total amount of taxes that an individual pays includes the school tax rate AND property taxes that are set by the county appraisal district. If the value of your home has increased based on the county appraisal assessment, then the total amount of taxes you pay is likely to rise. A school district does not have control over property taxes, only the school tax rate which was recently approved to be lowered by five cents this year.

The current tax rate for the district is $1.22.

The amount of taxes paid by each taxpayer is calculated by multiplying the district tax rate by each $100 of taxable value of the property. Therefore, if your assessed taxable value goes up, the amount you pay will go up even if the tax rate remains unchanged. The assessed value is set by your county appraisal district, not the school district.

This bond will result in a $0.01 increase to the school district tax rate.  The projected tax rate increase impact on a home valued at $150,000 is about $15.00 a year if both propositions pass.

The State Property Tax Code allows for school property taxes on an individual homestead to be “frozen” at the age of 65. If you are 65 years of age or older and you have filed for the “Over 65 Homestead Exemption”, there is a ceiling on the amount of school taxes to be paid. The only exception is if improvements are made to the home. As such, a tax increase from a new bond program cannot increase the applicable tax ceiling of a taxpayer that has qualified for the “Over 65 Homestead Exemption.”

We estimate that the tax rate increase would take place for the 2024 tax year.

This bond package will increase the district’s I&S (Interest and Sinking) tax rate, which pays for bonds, by $0.01 next year. The district’s M&O (Maintenance & Operations) tax rate, which funds district operations, will decrease by $0.05 next year. Therefore, if this bond passes, then the tax rate for Judson ISD will decrease by four cents next year.

The tax rate for the 2022 tax year is proposed to be reduced from $1.27 to $1.22.  If the bond does not pass, then the tax rate for the 2023 tax year will be the same or lower based upon property valuation and any legislation passed in the 2023 Legislative session, which begins in January.