North Texas school districts face resistance to athletic upgrades at the ballot box

NTX voters turn down school athletic upgrades

Texans love sports. But ever since bond votes had to be itemized, voters have passed education projects and rejected sports plans.

Texans love sports, but ever since bond votes had to be itemized voters have passed education projects and rejected sports plans.

Voters rejected a $100 million bond to build a new football stadium in Anna for the second time.

While interest at the polls was modest, the ISD bond questions had big financial implications.

"I think it's interesting to note that even among this very, hyper-motivated, tiny little pool of people who vote in these elections, some of these projects are losing," said SMU economist Mike Davis.

Anna ISD said they have the smallest stadium in 5A and there is no way to expand their existing stadium.

It wasn't just sports in Anna that was rejected over the weekend.

Mansfield ISD voters rejected a $188 million plan to renovate stadiums, practice facilities and fine arts additions.

Voters did approve $589 million to improve school facilities, safety spending and improving technology on campus.

"I think voters look at the schools and say, you know what? If every penny that they spend is sooner or later going to come out of my pocket, and we want to make sure that the money is spent on the things that really matter," said Davis.

SMU economist Mike Davis thinks part of the rejections are because the legislature now requires bond packages to be itemized.

In the past, a district could lump athletics with academic improvements, but in 2020 the law changed.

"Some of these growing school districts, a lot of them, in fact, need money to build new schools. I just think that people are being very careful about saying, yeah, we want the new schools, and we might even want new parks and playgrounds, but we don't really have the cash to spend on these fairly elaborate sports facilities," explained Davis.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Texas voters rejected several athletic bond measures

Argyle ISD voters rejected a $22 million baseball complex.

Despite reports of a boom in population over the next 10 years, voters also rejected a $428 million bond to build new schools.

There was an outlier in the rejection of athletic improvements.

Lewisville ISD voters approved $101 million to repair and renovate campus facilities, including two swimming pools and all high school stadiums.

Davis says he doesn't want to call this consistent rejection of sports facilities a trend, but says it does speak to voters being more intentional and educated about what's on the table.

"They can build community spirit, but they're not economically relevant. It's not like a bunch of additional spending happens because, you know, even a very good high school football team is winning," said Davis.

Grapevine-Colleyville ISD and Kaufman ISD voters passed bond measures that spent millions on security and technology projects.