Education
BY DAVE MANNING
Trustees vote to audit bond after $132.6M cost increases At the Feb. 5 meeting, officials outlined strategies to address the current budget shortfall as well as for future bond measures, including using funds from other district sources, delaying some projects and deferring some cost overruns of current projects to future bond initiatives. What else Board President Judy Dae, who was not Elementary School No. 55: $9.7M Aquatic practice facility: $4.5M Transportation facility: $500,000 Projected shortfalls The Feb. 5 presentation to Fort Bend ISD trustees listed projected shortfalls of seven major projects equaling $93.6 million.
Fort Bend ISD trustees voted unanimously Feb. 26 to begin meeting with a third-party auditor to see what the district might do about the projected $132.6 million shortfall in its May 2023 bond program—which could run 11.8% over budget. During the previous Feb. 5 meeting, district offi- cials identified factors they said led to the shortfall, including inflation and other economic factors. However, officials also said district personnel failed to disclose the projected shortfall in November before the district closed for winter break, and thus they were late finding out about the new projections. Remember this? The district’s $1.26 billion bond package included $1.18 billion for construction, security and other projects. The audit would reassess the construction cost overruns associated with the bond projects—particularly the seven largest, which amount to $93.6 million.
Briargate Elementary School rebuild: $13.7M Mission Bend Elementary School rebuild: $13.7M
present for the Feb. 5 meeting when the bond shortfall was announced, said despite all the district’s efforts, the shortfall occurred, and now officials must remedy the issue and rebuild trust with the community. “We need to have a third party ... review the process and determine what went wrong and how to prevent this from happening again,” Dae said. “I believe we owe this to the taxpayers and our community to get to the bottom of this, and I will urge all my fellow trustees to support the action item to conduct the audit on this bond.”
Middle School No. 16: $24.5M
Clements High School rebuild: $27M
Other projects: $39M
SOURCE: FORT BEND ISD/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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