FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 5, 2025
CONTACT: Nicole Hill, press@texasaft.org
Local tax rate elections went down while pro-public education candidates surged
AUSTIN, Texas – Earlier this week, voters across the state cast their ballots on a number of local school funding ballot initiatives and school board trustee elections. While tax rate elections and bonds by and large failed to pass, a number of pro-public education candidates won school board races in some of the state’s biggest public school districts. A slate of educators and parents in Cy-Fair ISD defeated Governor Abbott’s chosen candidates to take back the board from the far-right majority. Meanwhile, the Mike Miles agenda took another blow in Houston ISD with the election of anti-takeover trustees, who will be in place to right the ship once the state takeover ends.
“Voters are feeling their budgets tighten in this economy. By failing to do their part to fully fund schools, lawmakers have put way too much pressure on taxpayers to fill the gaps,” said Zeph Capo, president of Texas AFT. “Taxpayers already send billions to the state each year, and it’s more than enough revenue to make schools whole. This election shows that voters still care deeply about their public schools; they just can’t keep footing the bill while state lawmakers sit on a heap of cash.”
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The Texas American Federation of Teachers represents 66,000 teachers, paraprofessionals, support personnel, and higher-education employees across the state. Texas AFT is affiliated with the 1.8 million-member American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO.