Leander ISD Board of Trustees voted to call a bond election for May 6, 2023 during a special called meeting Thursday night. The bond totals $762.8 million, addressing security, renovations and repairs, and continued growth, impacting every student across the district.
The bond package sorts into three parts:
- Proposition A: $698.3 million for school facilities, the purchase of necessary sites for school facilities, buses and vehicles
- Proposition B: $50.8 million for technology equipment and technology infrastructure
- Proposition C: $13.6 million for renovations to Don Tew Performing Arts Center and South Performing Arts Center
“This bond package looks and feels very different than what we have considered in the past,” Board President Trish Bode said. “We are keeping the district’s vision and mission and the Board’s core beliefs front and center of our decisions. Shifting our outlook on how we manage growth led to phenomenal discussions about essential needs for our students. At the same time, we considered our taxpayers and honored the desire to use funds responsibly.”
In 2021, two out of three bond measures failed. The district responded by forming a Long-Range Planning Committee that approached growth by ensuring student access to learning experiences that interest them, facility optimization, fiscal responsibility and changes in population over time. During the fall of 2022, the district convened a Citizens’ Facility Advisory Committee. Studying the needs of district facilities and campuses, the 150-member committee presented recommendations to a steering committee that brought forward a bond proposal to the Board.
On Thursday, the Board carefully considered each of the recommendations made through the CFAC recommendation process, the guiding principles of the Long-Range Plan and additional considerations from district staff.
“This incredible work has been transparent from beginning to end,” Superintendent Bruce Gearing, Ed.D., said. “At every level, our district administrators, committee and Board have wrestled with the numbers. That careful attention to detail shows me the diligent approach to addressing our needs while demonstrating fiscal responsibility.”
As a result of conservative fiscal management, enrollment growth, and retiring of old debt, Leander ISD will not raise the tax rate in order to pay for the bond. The interest & sinking portion of the district’s property tax rate, which pays for bond debt, will stay at $.33 per $100 of assessed property value.
Election Day for the bond will be Saturday, May 6. Early voting will start on Monday, April 24 and last until Tuesday, May 2.
Over the next several weeks, we will be creating informational material as well as hosting community conversations to educate about the contents of the bond proposal.
Highlights include:
High School
- Modernization and/or repairs at every high school
- New facilities for 18+ Transition Services and design for Early College HS plus portables
- Band instrument replacement
- Turf for baseball and softball at all high schools, excluding Glenn HS, which was built with turf fields
Middle School
- Modernization and/or repairs at every middle school
- Turf on competition fields at Running Brushy MS
- Band instrument replacement
- Design of a new middle school facility
Elementary School
- Modernization at Bagdad Elementary
- New facilities for Elementary School 31 & 32
- Early Childhood Centers
Security
- Series of improvements to the exterior and interior security layers, aligning with proposed TEA requirements
- Cybersecurity upgrades, including network firewalls, content filters and recovery appliances
Technology
- Improvements to infrastructure
- Interactive panel installation
- CTE Mobile Maker labs
- Replacing old devices
Ancillary
- Renovating a building on the Grandview Hills ES campus to house a third transportation facility
- Replacing 134 buses and adding 9 more for growth
- Replacing fleet vehicles
- New facility for Science Materials Center
- Canopy LED lighting that stay on all night at all schools
- Vehicle and machinery replacements for Plant Services and Grounds departments