Round Rock Independent School District is seeking a nearly $1 billion bond to improve and expand school facilities, but concerned residents are opposing the proposal.
The school board voted 5-2 on Thursday night to place the $998 million proposal—which is divided into Propositions A, B, C, and D—on November’s ballot.
Proposition A seeks to allot approximately $800 million for upgraded roofs, floors, air conditioning systems, electrical, and plumbing. It also includes money for school paint jobs and the purchase of new buses.
The proposition would further dedicate resources to constructing a Career and Technical Education facility to expand classes like automotive shop, cosmetology, and dental assistance.
Proposition B contains an estimated $125 million to upgrade instructional technology and infrastructure, ensuring the reliability and security of the district’s network.
Proposition C includes 8.6 million to improve the district’s fine arts programs.
Proposition D would provide $65.9 million to improve the locker rooms, lighting, and scoreboards of existing athletic facilities. It would also approve adding artificial turf to competition fields.
Notably, the proposition would also greenlight the construction of a standalone multipurpose athletic facility.
Amber Feller Landrum, Place 3 trustee and school board president, admitted during an August 8 meeting that the bond would “be a hard sell for our community to digest that we have a billion dollars worth of stuff.”
Still, Landrum applauded the board for the proposal, telling fellow trustees she was “excited” and “thrilled” that every school would be affected if voters approved all propositions.
However, some residents voiced serious concerns over the bond proposal in a subsequent August 15 meeting.
Jill Farris, who was involved in the Long-Range Facilities planning committee that provided input on the bond, raised concerns about contracts awarded to companies that have never worked with the district before.
She also criticized the board for not sharing the current bond project list with the community before the latest meeting.
“Based on the ballot language provided, the projects don’t actually matter. But still, it would be great if you’d at least pretend you care about what the community thinks,” explained Farris. “You … asked us to do all this work on the bond committee, … and now most of us don’t even understand what made the cut and what didn’t.”
The proposal is likely well over $1 billion when combined principal and interest are included. However, the district is only required under the Texas Election Code to factor these in interest once a Notice of Election goes out three weeks before Election Day.
Round Rock ISD last approved a bond project for $508 million in 2018. However, when combining principal and interest debt, the project was estimated to actually cost upwards of $700 million.
The district currently has $741,145,000 in principal debt outstanding and $215,516,914 in interest, for a total of $956,661,914.
Texas Scorecard previously reported that even if a district’s property tax rate stays the same, all school bonds increase local property tax obligations because local property taxes repay bond debt.
Election Day is November 5.
