EDUCATION BRIEFS
News from Lone Star College System and Conroe & Montgomery ISDs
Board approves 70 more portable buildings for 2023-24
PORTABLE BUILDING NEEDS As Conroe ISD awaits additional permanent buildings, the board of trustees approved $1.3 million for 70 portable classroom buildings in 2023-24.
70
New portable classrooms needed each year:
37
24
BY CASSANDRA JENKINS
CONROE ISD The Conroe ISD board of trustees approved an approximately $1.3 million purchase of 70 portable buildings for the 2023-24 school year at a March 21 board meeting. Assistant Superintendent of Operations Chris McCord said during a presentation ahead of the agenda item that 19 elementary campuses will add 61 of the 70 portable classrooms. Cox Intermediate will get two portables; Stockton Junior High will receive three; and Grand Oaks High School will receive four. Superintendent Curtis Null said the need for por- tables is due to budgeting, not a lack of planning. “There are always people who will look at this and say, ‘Why didn’t you plan better?’” he said during the meeting. “In the 2019 bond, we came to the bond committee with $1.8 billion worth of needs, ... and they cut it to $807 million. That was unsuccessful, so then we cut it to $654 million. We cut a lot of what would have been new buildings.”
SOURCE: CONROE ISD COMMUNITY IMPACT 2021-22 2022-23
2023-24
Conroe ISD already has a total of 196 portable buildings.
CASSANDRA JENKINS/COMMUNITY IMPACT
With no additional permanent buildings added, the presentation cited the total number of portable classrooms needed through the 2027-28 school year is projected to reach 436. As of the 2022-23 school year, a previous Com- munity Impact report stated the district is already at 102% capacity overall. To address the projected growth, the district formed a bond committee that began meeting in February. “If the bond is called and passed, it would reduce that number [of portables], but it won’t reduce the number for the next two years,” Null said. “Even if we passed the bond in November, we won’t open a school building until 2025 and then some of the bigger schools not [until] 2027.”
According to McCord, the total cost to install a double classroom portable is approximately $300,000, which is taken out of the district’s maintenance and operations budget. “That’s teacher salaries, electric bills, insurance,” Null said. “When we reach a point where we are taking money from that budget for portables, it’s pulling money away from salaries and educational programs where it could have been spent.” Conroe ISD has a total of 196 portable buildings. According to a presentation given at the board meeting, the need for portable buildings grew from 24 total buildings during the 2021-22 school year to 37 buildings in 2022-23 before reaching 70 for the upcoming 2023-24 school year.
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