Kendall County votes currently oppose school district’s tax effort

Kendall County Election Day votes have reversed the Boerne ISD’s early voting fortunes, as county votes against the district’s teacher-pay tax proposal have risen to 4,082 — 68 votes more than the 4,014 votes cast for the district’s taxing measure. 

Early voting in Kendall County went the district’s way. Of 4,623 early votes cast, 2,480 favored the taxing measure while 2,143 voted against. 

Meanwhile, early voting in Bexar County went in the district’s favor: 1,452 (57.7%) of 2,517 early votes in favor, and 1,065 (42.3%) against. Election Day results from Bexar are still out, and could be long in coming. 

In Comal County, its one precinct saw 32 voters favor the VATRE and 25 vote against. 

District officials must wait for results from tallies to come in from registered voters in several Bexar precincts before calling it win, lose or draw. 

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. 

Thus the district proposed the VATRE, which, the district explained, 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 2025 Boerne ISD VATRE would increase the district’s tax rate by two cents, from $0.9909 to $1.0109. If approved, the district would receive an estimated $4.8 million annually — for every $1.00, an additional $0.60 comes from the state. 

As more precincts check in, the Boerne Star will keep a running tally of the vote and bring it here.