Despite a lack of support in Kendall County, the Boerne Independent School District's Voter Approval Tax Rate Election, or VATRE, was approved Tuesday, with 6,241 (51.2%) votes for and 5,933 (48.7%) against -- largely on the backs on Bexar County voter approval.
Bexar residents in the school district came out strong, with 2,123 votes for the taxing teacher-pay effort, with 1,751 opposed. That 372-vote margin made the difference for the district, offsetting the losing margin in Kendall, as 4,082 voters opposed the measure, while 4,014 votes in support.
The district proposed the VATRE -- which, according to the BISD website, allows school districts to seek voter approval to access additional funding for day-to-day operations such as teacher salaries, academic programs, classroom materials, and facility upkeep.
The Boerne VATRE would increase the district’s tax rate by two cents, from $0.9909 to $1.0109. The district will receive an estimated $4.8 million annually — for every $1.00, an additional $0.60 comes from the state.
Boerne ISD was the only school district in the San Antonio area to get a VATRE approved, as four others saw their efforts fail.
Boerne ISD Superintendent Kristin Craft and staff went the distance to get the word out about teacher pay rates, drawing comparisons that showed the district below other area districts when it comes to salary averages and starting salary rates, even with the district maintaining a lengthy six years of A-ratings from the Texas Education Agency’s A-F Accountability Rating system.
Boerne ISD is the ninth-lowest funded school district in the state. Of neighboring districts in the San Antonio and Hill County area, Boerne’s 2024 starting pay for teachers ranked 15 out of 21; a figure that fell to 19th after 10 years of teaching.
Last year alone, Craft said, the district lost more than 100 educators, many of them to districts just a few miles away that are able to pay more.
Kendall County's early voters gave the district something to cheer about. Early voters gave a quick 337-vote boost to BISD, 2,480 to 2,143. But Election Day turnout began to whittle away at the BISD lead. When the two final Kendall County precincts reported, their totals pushed the "no" votes to 4,082, 63 more than the 4,014 accumulated "yes" votes.
All eyes shifted to the BISD's Bexar County residents.
Unlike in Kendall County, the district maintained a "yes"-vote advantage down the stretch in Bexar County. Percentages stayed pretty consistent, from early voting ( 57.6% yes; 42.3% no) to the final, 54.8% yes; 45.2% no.
Early vote there was also in the district's favor -- 1,452 to 1,065, a 337-vote "yes" margin. Election Day turnout in Bexar showed 671 votes for, and 686 against -- a slight dropoff, but not enough to offset the district's 300-plus early voting margin.
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