Bond election

Bond election

By Eric Pulsifer Friday, 03 October 2008

The Round Rock ISD Board of Trustees called for a Nov. 4 bond election to fund $293.9 million in projects. The ballot will include two propositions, the first addressing district growth and the second covering additions and renovations to existing facilities.

The projects are in response to recommendations from the 2008 Citizens Bond Committee, a 55-member group of RRISD citizens tasked with studying the district’s projected needs for the next two to three years.

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The board of trustees directed the committee to concentrate on the most critical needs in the areas of growth, safety and health, curriculum and technology, and infrastructure. The group presented its report to the board in June.

Catherine Hanna, co-chair of the committee, said the improvements are necessary to maintain the district’s educational standards.

In a statement released last month, Hanna said, “As members of the Citizen’s Bond Committee, we worked very hard to pare the project list down to the most critical needs of the District and to present a package that is economically prudent. We believe that passage of the bond is critical to continuing the high quality of education we enjoy in the Round Rock Independent School District.”

Classrooms for Kids

Hanna is also co-chair of Classrooms for Kids, a specific-purpose political action committee formed to advocate passage of the bond package. She fronts the PAC with former RRISD Board of Trustees member Raymond Hartfield, who also co-chaired ACCtion 4 Education, the PAC supporting Austin Community College’s new Round Rock campus.

Hartfield said the bond election is critical for the district and the growth it is experiencing. Most new RRISD elementary schools are built to handle around 750 students, but schools in areas with the most drastic population increases have student populations of more than 1,000.

“If you go look at Cactus Ranch they’re up to about 1,200 [students,]” Hartfield said. “And it continues to grow up there because of all the construction.”

With the slowing economy, the district had initially planned to see a lower than usual increase in the student population, projecting around 600 to 700 new students. But since May 2008, the district has taken on 1,244 new students.

“You can delay it, but in the interim the kids still come in and we have to put them somewhere,” he said.

More than 30 percent of RRISD students are in portable buildings, Hartfield said, and the district prefers to keep that number between 15 and 20 percent. Portables eat into the maintenance and operations side of the budget, money used for paying teacher’s salaries, food, utilities and other things that are consumed in the school year, rather than the improvements side, where expenses may be broken down over the year.

Increase in taxes

Last month, the board of trustees adopted a 2009 fiscal year tax rate of $1.332 per $100 of valuation, up 1 cent from last year.

The $312 million operating budget is based on estimated property values of more than $20 billion. Local tax revenue accounts for more than $201 million of the budget. State and federal funds make up around $85 million. The remainder of revenue comes from other various sources.

The budget approved by the board includes a $1,500 salary increase for teachers, librarians, counselors and nurses.

According to RRISD Chief Financial Officer Tracy Hoke, if both propositions pass, the total tax rate would rise to $1.357. With an average home value of around $200,000, after exemptions most district homeowners would pay $2,500, an increase of $45 a year.

If approved, bonds will be sold incrementally to fund projects as needed.

The last bond election was held in November 2006. Voters passed four propositions totaling more than $267 million for projects, including the opening of Callison, Sommer and Teravista elementary schools, Walsh Middle School and Cedar Ridge High School, which is set to open in the fall of 2010.

2008 Bond Summary

• Curriculum — $740,000
• Electrical — $1,048,750
• Fine Arts — $875,000
• Flooring — $2,257,010
• Food Service — $1,807,250
• Grounds — $316,000
• HVAC — $4,238,000
• Land — $37,005,000
• Parking — $210,750
• Plumbing — $90,000
• Renovation — $11,884,028
• Roofing — $1,994,660
• School Add — $96,855,709
• School New — $93,394,890
• Security — $4,747,310
• Special — $1,057,000
• Technology — $30,386,750
• Transportation — $4,725,000
• Wellness — $306,250
• TOTAL: $293,939,357

2008 RRISD Bond Election

Proposition One — Cost: $156.6 million

• Proposition one would cover issues arising from district growth.
  • Three new elementary schools in the Stone Oak, Paloma Lake and Parmer corridor areas
  • Purchase of 15 new school buses
  • Purchase of five additional land sites for a future high school, an alternative high school, a middle school and two elementary school sites
  • Technology to refresh, replace, upgrade and support existing computers, network infrastructure upgrades and replacement of existing central computer systems
  • A transportation facility on the west side of the district, allowing the current facility on the McNeil High School campus to be repurposed

Proposition Two — Cost: $137.4 million

• Proposition two would fund renovations, improvements and additions to existing facilities.
  • Phase two of master plan additions and renovations at Round Rock High School and Westwood High School
  • Safety and security improvements to entrances at secondary and selected elementary schools
  • Science room additions at Chisholm Trail Middle School
  • Fine arts addition at Deerpark Middle School
  • Removal of remaining carpeted elementary school gym floors and gym additions at Ridgeview and Cedar Valley middle schools
  • Weight room additions at Stony Point High School, McNeil High School and Cedar Valley Middle School
  • District-wide infrastructure projects including plumbing, electrical, air conditioning/heating, roofing, flooring and fire alarm systems
  • Purchase of 15 new school buses
  • Purchase of digital data projectors for all classrooms that do not yet have them