Hays CISD Board Calls For Bond Election Including 3rd High School

“We needed a third comprehensive high school when we put together our 2014 bond, but we didn’t have the bond financial capacity to build it at that time.”

On Monday, February 13, 2017, the Board of Trustees adopted an order calling for a bond election on May 6, 2017, which includes the district’s third high school and two elementary schools, among other projects. The ballot will include two propositions.

Proposition one, for $189,850,000 is for the three schools. Proposition two, for $60,150,000, includes facilities and equipment for a number of student programs, maintenance, security, and technology infrastructure.

“This process began about a year ago with the selection of the location for the third high school, should voters approve its construction with this bond package,” said Hays CISD Public Information Officer Tim Savoy. “The Board empaneled a citizens’ committee to determine the location of the high school in advance of this bond initiative so that the district could get a head start on the project. The preliminary site work will allow the district to open the school in 2019 instead of 2020, if it passes.”

Hays CISD’s high school student population already well exceeds the functional capacity of 4,600 students at the district’s two comprehensive high schools and one high school of choice.

The current high school population is 5,330. It is expected to reach 6,234 in the 2019 – 2020 school year and approach 6,400 by the following year.

A Board-appointed citizens’ committee, separate from the high school location committee, was also empaneled to put together the full bond proposal. This group, called the Growth Impact Committee, worked for several months in the fall to reach consensus on the projects the Board should consider placing in the bond – the most urgent needs of the district.

“We needed a third comprehensive high school when we put together our 2014 bond, but we didn’t have the bond financial capacity to build it at that time,” said Savoy. “With our growth, and with the work of our finance and operations departments in refunding previous bonds, we now have that capacity.”

The 2017 bond proposal, if approved, would not require the Board to change or increase the current school district tax rate.

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Proposition One

The construction cost of the proposed 413,500 square-foot high school is estimated to be $103,375,000. The entire project, including all furniture, equipment, architect costs, and other fees is listed in the bond at $122,000,000. Through competitive bidding and other negotiations, the district will work to keep the cost of the high school and two elementary schools as low as possible.

Any savings realized on the schools will be used to pay down existing debt, which returns the money to the taxpayers. That is a provision the Board added to the bond proposal prior to calling for the election.

Additionally, after work on all other projects in the bond is completed, the total savings from the bond will be returned to the taxpayers by paying off debt.

The proposed elementary schools would be 115,000 square-feet each, if they are approved. One would be constructed on High Road to relieve overcrowding at elementary schools in the eastern and southern parts of the district.

The second would be constructed to replace Buda Elementary School, which is among the oldest campuses in the district with parts of the existing facility dating back nearly a century. Additionally, the lower part of Buda Elementary campus has flooded twice in recent years. It sits along the bank of Onion Creek.

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Proposition Two

Proposition two of the bond contains projects that affect every campus in the district. It includes a replacement for the existing Hays High School band hall and a new softball and baseball complex at the campus.

It also includes a full culinary arts kitchen at Hays High School. At Lehman High School, proposition two includes a new vet tech building and an auto tech facility. It also includes an expansion of the press box and seating capacity of its football field.

If proposition two prevails, new science labs would be installed at Dahlstrom Middle School. In addition, Dahlstrom and Wallace Middle Schools would have bleachers, field lights, and scoreboards added to their fields. These are the only two middle schools in the district that do not currently have these items.

Proposition two includes priority maintenance projects as outlined in the district’s most recent Facilities Assessment Study, such as roofing and HVAC projects at a number of campuses, replacement of older analog security cameras with newer technology, and fire and intrusion alarm upgrades. It also includes library renovations, new books, and makerspaces at each campus.

The largest item in proposition two is a new transportation facility to house district-wide transportation operations and the district’s growing bus fleet. The new facility would be constructed away from the high traffic frontage road of Interstate 35, which would also make is safer for the buses.

Read the full project list, with detailed information, as well as all draft and reference material regarding the bond at: www.hayscisd.net/bond2017.

“One of the key ingredients in a Hays CISD bond initiative is transparency,” said Savoy. “We have an extensive collection of material about the bond and its development on our website.”