ionPopup renderFunction() has no .value

[jstoup111]

When I try to use the below template to display in an ionPopup, renderFunction() returns an HTMLTag object. Because of this the template does not display.

<template name="AddComment">
    <ul class="list add-comment">
      <div class="item item-header text-center">
        <img src="/images/open-green.svg"/>
        <img
            src="/images/caution-yellow.svg"/>
      </div>
      <div class="item item-text-wrap text-center">
        Answer this question
        <textarea style="height: 100px; width: 100%;">val</textarea>
    </div>
  </ul>
</template>

If I remove the textarea, then the ionPopup displays content and renderFunction() returns a Raw object. Any insight would be extremely helpful.