Data from a demographics report by research firm Zonda projects GISD will educate an additional 3,100 students over the next five years and nearly 7,000 students in the next 10 years.
This growth brings the challenge of ensuring the district has the right number of school sites in the right locations, Superintendent Fred Brent said.
“You have new development that brings new construction that requires bond funds, and we also have to have bond funds to provide renovations ... to current facilities,” he said.
To keep up with capacity, the district is planning to open the new Benold Middle School in the 2024-25 school year, with construction on the $78 million project underway.
Meanwhile, the district also has plans to open Elementary School No. 11 and the future-ready learning center that same year, all of which are funded through two of the five propositions from a 2021 bond election.
The maximum price for Elementary School No. 11—which will be located in Liberty Hill’s Santa Rita Ranch neighborhood—was set at $49.3 million.
The $97 million future-ready learning center, going in at 5001 Airport Road, includes 241,209 square feet of space to house career and technical education courses, Richarte High School, and the Bridges 18+ program that serves students with special needs for up to four years after graduation.
Brent said the district expects to call another bond in 2024 to fund future facilities. That package will likely include money for two elementary schools, one middle school and one high school.
The new schools opening in 2024 will require some rezoning, Brent said, as Elementary School No. 11 aims to provide Wolf Ranch Elementary with some capacity relief. However, when GISD opens its third comprehensive high school by 2027, the district would undertake a large-scale master-zoning plan.
“We try not to rezone too frequently, because we don’t want to move families more than we have to,” Brent said.
