The Woodlands Edition | September 2019

Either way … let those people vote on that because the  million [prop- osition], that is not a want; that is a need,” Hubert said. “We need these renovations. We need these schools. The kids are coming, and we’ve got to be prepared for them.” Stacy Kimpel, a parent of students at Ride Elementary and Knox Junior High, said she had also heard mixed community support for the turf conver- sions in May. “I think that it got a lot of negative publicity with people who were upset about the elds being ... turf,” she said. CISD ocials also noted the dier- ence in potential eects on local tax- payers between the May and Novem- ber propositions. The May package was pitched with an expected tax rate increase of . per  valuation in the rst year of the bond and up to a . tax rate hike over the life of the bond. According to CISD, neither November proposition would result in a tax increase due to the smaller dollar amount of the bonds compared to the May package. CISD Director of Communications Sarah Blakelock said the reduced amount of the bond proposition and creation of a capital maintenance fund will help to ensure that the proposals will not bring about a tax rate increase. The board of trustees in August lowered the district’s scal year -  tax rate to . per  valua- tion—% less than the . FY -  adopted rate. The drop includes a . maintenance and operations tax rate decrease and a . debt service rate increase. COMMUNITY FEEDBACK While the new bond proposals were developed to appeal to voters opposing the May package, members of some local political action committees that opposed the spring package have said they are not entirely satised with the district board’s revisions. Bill O’Sullivan, a board member of the conservative Texas Patriots PAC, which opposed the May bond, said the organization generally supports the local school system. However, he said the contents and formation of the May proposal led to Texas Patriots’ rst-ever call for a “no” vote on a CISD bond. “We looked at it as a mess, the way the whole thing was put together. It was rushed,” he said. “Bonds are sup- posed to be long-term investments mainly for the construction of big proj- ects. And we saw a lot of things in there

Conroe ISD’s $653.6 million bond includes several major south Montgomery County campus projects and renovations. Four south county campuses would also receive new Astroturf fields if a separate $23.8 million bond is approved.

Key:

Additions Proposition A project costs

Renovations

Safety and security $44.5M

Astroturf conversion $23.8M

$315.8M $239.2M

$11.2M

$14.6M

College Park High School Classroom additions

242

TheWoodlands High School Career and technical education, science and engineering lab additions

$8.2M

Galatas Elementary

Collins Intermediate Physical education classroom addition

$5.1M

$1M

Oak Ridge Elementary

$57M

R

Oak Ridge High School systems overhaul and CTE center

David Elementary

$5.1M

RideElementary

Houser Elementary

$3.2M

$5.8M

ROBIN S O

$1.1M

McCullough Junior High

Lamar Elementary

Kaufman Elementary

$2.1M

$3M

Glen Loch Elementary

$7.5M

Wilkerson Intermediate Physical education classroom addition

45

R D

N Map not to scale

$16.6M

RENOVATIONS at Conroe ISD campuses include climate control updates, roof replacement at Oak Ridge Elementary, auditorium improvements at Oak Ridge High and a new kitchen at Lamar Elementary. SAFETY AND SECURITY projects at several campuses include upgraded security cameras and fire alarm systems, emergency generator installations and added door sensors and access control systems.

York Junior High School Addition to school

SOURCE:CONROE ISD/COMMUNITY IMPACTNEWSPAPER

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Woodlands High School addition and . million south county CTE center were projected at similar costs in the spring. Two contentious pieces from the May bond were also modied for the district’s November bids. First, many smaller facility improvements some community members viewed as main- tenance items—and therefore not worth funding through a bond—were eliminated. To address those needs, the CISD board of trustees approved a new capital maintenance fund in August to pay for smaller future projects. Secondly, the board removed the conversion of around a dozen athletic elds to articial turf from its larger package and will leave that potential upgrade as a standalone . million proposition. CISD board Vice President Skeeter Hubert said the turf concept received equally vocal support and disapproval in the spring, leading the board to separate it from the main bond proposition. “If it passes, great; if it fails, okay.

THE NEWBOND PACKAGES Aer the May election, CISD ocials began planning a revised package to go back to voters this fall. Null said district focus groups and community feedback were used to reduce the new bond’s scope while retaining the May package’s essential items. In stripping down the  million May proposition, several district facility projects in Conroe were removed and could now be funded through other dis- trict sources. Technology- and transpor- tation-related purchases from the May package were also reduced and would be nanced over a shorter time than originally proposed, ocials said. South Montgomery County projects are estimated to cost the same or less than theywere inMay’s proposition. The price tag for Oak Ridge High’s overhaul dropped around  million, and the Col- lege Park addition dropped . million aer several projects were reclassied as safety and security expenses, o- cials said.The new . million Grand Oaks feeder school, . million The

both high schools in The Woodlands. The Woodlands, College Park and Oak Ridge high schools and McCullough Junior High School would also receive turf eld conversions if that standalone proposition passes. CISD ocials said they are unlikely to call a third bond election in the event of another “no” vote in Novem- ber, and would instead implement an internal savings plan consisting of options such as stang and program- ming cuts, increased class sizes, hiring and pay raises freezes, tax increases and rezoning if the main package is not approved. “If not successful this round, I don’t believe May [] is an option, and I don’t believe that we think that Novem- ber of  is an option,” CISD Super- intendent Curtis Null said. “There is a point where, if the voters have spoken twice in a row, then we would need to listen and react and nd another means to run the school district.”

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