Education
Education
BY BRITTANY ANDERSON
Hundreds of aordable single-family homes for Hays CISD teachers are set to be built, following the board of trustees’ approval of a master lease agreement with home developer Upwards Communities during its Jan. 27 meeting. Upwards Communities co-founder and CEO Jason Roberts rst brought the agreement to the trustees during a Dec. 16 board meeting. The project aims to recruit and retain teachers by providing aordable homes within the district. The units could include four bedrooms and two bathrooms with monthly rents under market value, likely $2,000 a month or less. Unlike an individual lease, the master lease gives HCISD the ability to lease all of the units and be able to prioritize reserving them for employees, Roberts said. HCISD to provide teacher housing
Local school districts call trustee elections on May 3 ballot
Why it matters
About 100 new HCISD sta positions are added per year, said superintendent Eric Wright, and the district is expected to double in student size over the next ten years. Wright said the district is not putting any money from its Maintenance & Operations budget, Interest & Sinking budget or bond capacity toward the project. “We are simply oering this as a benet, and Upwards Communities—by their benevolence—is actually utilizing their own seed money to make this happen to the tune of around $90 million,” Wright said. Upwards Communities is set to put together a site plan for the project next, and Wright said about 300 units are expected to be built rst. Construction is expected to start within 18 months, according to Chief Human Resources Ocer Christina Courson.
Voters will have the opportunity to elect several new members to the board of trustees at local districts in May. Hays CISD voters will see candidates running for the board of trustees’ District 4 and District 5 seats. The HCISD board of trustees unanimously approved an order calling for the election during its regular Jan. 27 meeting. The details The District 4 seat is currently held by Byron Severance, who also serves as vice president. Severance was rst elected to the board in 2022. The District 5 seat is currently held by Espe- ranza Orosco. Orosco was rst elected to the board in 2016 and has previously served as president, vice president and secretary. Severance and Orosco have both led for reelection.
Of the seven HCISD trustees, ve are elected from single-member districts and two are elected at large. Severance and Orosco both hold single-mem- ber district seats. The San Marcos CISD board of trustees’ District 4 and District 5 seats will also be up for election in May. The board approved an order calling for the election during a special meeting Feb. 3. Two-minute impact The District 4 seat is currently held by Brian Shanks, who was rst elected to the board in 2022. Shanks has not led for re-election. Candi- date John W. McGlothlin is running unopposed for the seat. The District 5 seat is currently held by Clem- entine Cantu, who also serves as vice president. Cantu was rst elected to the board in 2016 and
“We’re such a fast growth district—our employees don’t have places that they can readily move into. We know that we have over a thousand of our employees that live outside of our district boundaries. This would provide at least a third of
Dates to know for May 2025 election
Feb. 14
Last day to le for a place on the ballot
April 3
Last day to register to vote
April 22
First day of early voting
April 29
Last day of early voting
those to have a place to [live].” ERIC WRIGHT, HAYS CISD SUPERINTENDENT
May 3
Election day
SOURCE: HAYS CISD, SAN MARCOS CISDCOMMUNITY IMPACT
has led for reelection. All candidates in HCISD and SMCISD will hold single-member district seats, meaning only residents living within their districts will be eligible to vote.
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