A red Canyon High School sign in front of a school building with a stone tower, glass entry and red brick wings — Canyon High School in New Braunfels, photographed in 2013. The bond would add classroom space there. (Photo: Billy Hathorn / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

November 3, 2026 · 3 min read

Comal ISD Asks Voters for $567 Million in Bonds. The Interest Would Cost More Than the Loan

Comal ISD's $567 million bond would build two I-35 corridor elementary schools. The district says its debt rate would hold, but interest would top the principal.

Election Day preview: Voters in Comal ISD decide Tuesday, Nov. 3, whether to let the district borrow up to $567 million, including money for two new elementary schools along Interstate 35 near New Braunfels.

The district estimates it can pay for the bonds without raising its debt tax rate. Its own election paperwork also shows the interest would cost more than the amount borrowed.

What is on the ballot

The board's order calling the bond election, posted on the district's elections page, sets out two propositions. Both carry the state-required words "THIS IS A PROPERTY TAX INCREASE."

Proposition A, $539,955,000: building, renovating and equipping schools, buying land for future campuses and buying school buses and other vehicles.
Proposition B, $27,045,000: technology, including classroom computers and devices and network upgrades.

On the district's Bond 2026 page, Proposition A pays for two new elementary schools along the I-35 corridor near New Braunfels, an addition at Davenport High School, and more classroom space at Canyon High School by turning the district's next-door Administrative and Support Services building into classrooms. It would also pay for cameras, secure entry windows and card-reader door access, along with new roofs, air conditioning, plumbing and electrical systems at older campuses. Some buses, the page says, have more than 200,000 miles and no seat belts; the bond would replace them with new buses that have seat belts.

The district says it has more than 30,300 students, adds about 900 to 1,000 a year and expects 7,000 more by 2032. It says elementary schools along I-35 would be about 1,300 seats short by then. It also says waiting would add about $27 million a year to project costs, based on its architect's March 2026 estimate.

Students stand beside a U.S. Navy flight simulator trailer and a blue Navy canopy in a school parking lot

Smithson Valley High School students visit a Navy flight simulator during San Antonio Navy Week in 2011. Photo: U.S. Navy photo by Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Gary Ward, Public domain.

The full cost

The voter information document attached to the order estimates the interest on Proposition A at $616,320,863, assuming a 5.25 percent rate. That is more than the amount borrowed. Principal and interest together come to $1,156,275,863 over 27 years. For Proposition B, principal and interest come to an estimated $45,795,638 over 20 years. By our math, the two together would cost about $1.2 billion to pay off.

The district already owes $1,375,405,214 in principal and an estimated $719,844,164 in interest on its existing bonds, according to the order. Its debt-service tax rate for 2026-27 is 35 cents per $100 of value, and the district estimates it would stay at 35 cents if the new bonds are sold.

The document puts the estimated tax increase on a homestead at $0 for both a $100,000 and a $375,000 home, figured with the $140,000 state homestead exemption. That $0 also assumes property values rise 5 percent a year for four years and 4 percent for two more. The first assumption listed says the estimate depends on voters passing, on Nov. 3, 2026, amendments raising the homestead exemption to $140,000 and the senior and disabled exemption to $60,000. That date appears to be an error: Texas voters approved both increases in November 2025, and there are no constitutional amendments on this year's ballot. The larger exemptions are already in effect. The document adds that whenever the district issues bonds, more property taxes must be collected to pay them, whether or not the rate goes up.

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The district covers parts of Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Hays and Kendall counties, according to the order.

For more from the area and other school tax elections, read our coverage of New Braunfels and Bastrop ISD.

Our view

Children need classrooms and buses need seat belts. Those are honest needs in a district growing this fast. But voters should read the fine print. A steady tax rate is not the same as no cost. The interest alone is bigger than the loan, and the paperwork behind the $0 estimate should have been checked more carefully. Families who vote yes should do it with that full price in view.