🍲 DIY hot pot just opened on I-10, and a trampoline park is coming to Loop 410

🌻 Zoo Boo’s 40th year, an equinox night on Nolan Street and a 6:30 a.m. bootcamp in Brackenridge Park

🏫 Sixteen North East ISD elementaries now meet the district’s criteria for possible closure

🏛️ Killing school property taxes for homeowners would cost the state $8.6 billion a year

🏡 A 1912 Craftsman in Denver Heights, six days on the market and priced at the city median

.... and more in this 5-minute read

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🗳️ Northside ISD puts four questions on the November ballot

Northside ISD voters will decide four measures Nov. 3. Proposition A is a voter-approval tax ratification election asking for a 3-cent increase to the maintenance and operations rate—about $30 a year more on a home valued at $100,000—which under state law can only pay for day-to-day operating costs such as employee compensation, classroom supplies, transportation, fuel and utilities.

Propositions B, C and D are three bond packages totaling just over $886 million for new schools, additions and renovations, HVAC, infrastructure, technology and security. The district frames the split plainly: bonds build things, the VATRE pays people, because bond money legally cannot cover salaries.

🏫 Sixteen North East ISD elementaries meet the criteria for possible closure

NEISD’s board took up school-closure criteria at its Sept. 16 meeting. Campuses are screened on low building utilization, cost per student running 5% above the district average and low enrollment.

Sixteen elementary schools currently meet that bar and are under review: Canyon Ridge, Castle Hills, Colonial Hills, Dellview, Harmony Hills, Las Lomas, Montgomery, Northwood, Northern Hills, Oak Grove, Oak Meadow, Redland Oaks, Regency Place, Ridgeview, Serna and Wetmore.

A district spokesperson stressed NEISD does not plan to close 16 schools—some on the list host specialized programs or were already reshaped by earlier consolidations and would likely come off it. An efficiency committee is working through the list, with recommendations possibly reaching the board by December.

The pressure behind it: enrollment is falling district-wide, and roughly 70% of district residents have no school-age children.

🔑 SA Renters get a free rundown on their rights Tuesday night

The city’s Neighborhood and Housing Services Department and the Fair Housing Council of South Texas host the year’s last in-person renter information session from 5:30-7 p.m. on Sept. 22 at the Walker Ranch Senior Center, 835 W. Rhapsody Drive. The presentation covers eviction, repairs, fair housing and renting responsibly.

Fair housing counselors, city code enforcement staff and Fair Housing Council staff will take questions and schedule follow-up appointments on the spot. Spanish and American Sign Language interpreters will be available. Registration is not required.

🏛️ Ending school property taxes for homeowners would cost Texas nearly $9B per year, officials say

State officials told the House Ways and Means Committee that eliminating school property taxes for homeowners would require Texas to spend at least $8.6 billion a year, a figure they project would grow to $12 billion by 2032. Texas school districts collect roughly $29 billion annually in maintenance and operations taxes, and homeowners account for about $8.6 billion of that.

Gov. Greg Abbott has pledged to end school property taxes if reelected. The state’s 2026-27 budget already directs $51 billion toward property tax relief. Any change of this kind would require a constitutional amendment, which means two-thirds support in both chambers and approval from voters.

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath told the committee that removing school taxes raises a foundational question about what replaces them, pointing to sales tax, oil and gas revenue, lottery funds and property taxes as the options on the table. Read More →

See you Friday! 😆

The Rundown is curated by Marie Leonard and Erin Cobb at Community Impact. If you have any feedback for our team, hit reply to this email—we respond to all reader questions and comments.