The improvements are intended to bring LHS—the district's oldest comprehensive high school, built in 1984—up to the same standards as newer high school campuses, Chief Operating Officer Jeremy Trimble told Community Impact in August.
The overview
At a Nov. 21 meeting, the LISD board of trustees approved a guaranteed maximum price, or GMP, of $28.47 million for Phases 1C and 1D of the Leander High School Master Plan Redesign, according to district documents. The district may now access bond funds to begin constructing these phases in the summer.
Phase 1C includes remodeling the school’s current athletic area, including locker rooms, showers and offices. For Phase 1D, the district will renovate the campus’s auxiliary gym into a dance and cheer space and the rubber gym into an area for wrestling, alongside supporting auxiliary spaces, district documents state.
The timeline
The district began construction on Phase 1A in summer 2023 by relocating utilities for future renovations. In August 2024, the district started construction on a new auxiliary gym and weight room under Phase 1B.
The entirety of Phase 1 is expected to be complete by the beginning of the 2026-27 school year, Trimble said.
The cost
Voters approved $23.5 million in the district’s 2023 bond election to create the LHS Master Plan Redesign and fund the construction of Phase 1.
In February, the LISD board of trustees allocated an additional $32.3 million in capital projects interest earnings toward Phase 1, moving the school’s auxiliary gym from the back to the front of the campus, next to the competition gym and performing arts center.
At the Nov. 21 meeting, the board approved the third GMP for the project. The board approved GMP No. 1 of around $3.39 million in March and GMP No. 2 of $18.29 million in June. The total GMP for the project now sits at $50.15 million.
