New Braunfels ISD trustees voted unanimously Monday to refinance $112.65 million in existing bonds and authorize issuance of the remaining $113 million from the district's 2024 voter-approved bond package, a move officials say gives the district room to chase better interest rates while keeping construction on schedule.
The board's decision, reached at its October 19 meeting in New Braunfels, pairs two separate financial moves into one vote, according to Community Impact Newspaper. One piece refinances $112.65 million in bonds that currently carry higher interest rates, with the goal of locking in lower ones. The other authorizes the district to issue the final $113 million still outstanding from the $313 million bond package New Braunfels voters approved in the May 2024 election, as confirmed by New Braunfels ISD.
Paul McLarty, the district's chief business and support services officer, said the timing was no accident. He said market conditions and interest rates are ideal right now, and framed the authorization as a hedge against future volatility rather than an immediate obligation to sell bonds. “This gives us the flexibility as a district to jump into the market whenever the interest rates are best,” McLarty said, per the same outlet's report.
Why the District Isn't Waiting Until 2027
The district doesn't actually expect to need the final $113 million until August 2027, according to McLarty. But the board's vote gives staff the flexibility to authorize those bond funds earlier than that if conditions call for it. District representatives said the board decision allows staff to issue bonds sooner if necessary to support construction over the next 12 to 18 months, and that refinancing will help manage the district's overall debt load and tax rate.
That flexibility echoes language baked into the district's own bond paperwork from the start. The 2024 preliminary official statement, issued when the first bond installment hit the market, anticipated the next installment would likely come within 12 to 18 months and noted the district might also pursue refunding bonds specifically for debt-service savings down the line.
A Bond Rolled Out in Pieces Since 2024
New Braunfels ISD has issued the 2024 bond in portions over roughly the past two years rather than all at once, according to agenda documents reviewed for the Community Impact report. The district issued $125 million in August 2024 to fund an initial 18 months of construction, then followed with another $75 million in February 2025. Monday's authorization of the remaining $113 million closes out the full $313 million package voters approved.
That $313 million total breaks down into three propositions: Facilities, Stadium Projects and Technology, per district election materials. The election order behind the measure set those allocations at $267.5 million for facilities, $42.5 million for stadium projects and $3 million for instructional technology, and it specified that annual property taxes would be levied to cover bond principal, interest and related costs.
Refinancing Trend Isn't Unique to New Braunfels
New Braunfels ISD isn't the only Texas district moving to refinance existing bond debt for savings. Denton Independent School District recently refinanced $15.85 million in voter-approved bond debt, a move it said generated $6.75 million in taxpayer savings and shortened the debt's repayment term by eight years, cutting the average interest rate from 4.00 percent to 3.25 percent. The broader market has been active too: Texas school districts completed 393 general-obligation bond issues totaling $30.17 billion in fiscal year 2025, according to a Texas Bond Review Board report, which noted tax-supported new-money issuance has climbed from $17.75 billion in 2021.
New Braunfels voters haven't always said yes to bond requests tied to athletics facilities. In 2021, voters rejected a $20.1 million proposition that would have funded a Long Creek competition stadium and a new press box at New Braunfels High School, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The 2024 package's $42.5 million stadium proposition, by contrast, was part of the broader bond voters ultimately approved.
District officials have characterized the refinancing as a tool for managing debt and the tax rate, while the remaining $113 million authorization stands as a flexible option staff can exercise as construction needs demand over the next year and a half.
