The Leander ISD board of trustees set a Nov. 7 bond election for a $454 million bond package during its Aug. 17 meeting. Trustees made some changes to the planned projects in the bond, which will address growth, safety and maintenance and operations, before passage. Trustees voted to remove $9 million from the technology section, which was originally set at $47.7 million. Superintendent Dan Troxell said Laurie Vondersaar, senior executive director for information technology services, looked into the projects in the technology section of the bond to ensure they could be addressed over the next four years without the $9 million. Vondersaar said the department is looking to address the oldest pieces of the fiber infrastructure, which runs the district’s network. “For the most part, if you address the issues that are there with the older pieces that are a little bit more fragile and a little bit more volatile, I think you would be in good shape by addressing those at a minimum,” she said. The savings from this bond could be put in a future bond package. Trustee Don Hisle suggested and trustees approved some optional projects that had been suggested by the district's bond advisory steering committee in June. Those included:
  • $6.93 million to construct agriculture barn facilities at Vandegrift and Glenn high schools;
  • $674,132 for additions and renovations to the agriculture barn facility at Leander High School;
  • $872,109 for additions to the JROTC building at Vista Ridge High School; and
  • $1.07 million for a Career and Technical Education Incubator Classroom at Vandegrift and Vista Ridge high schools.
Troxell said the board believes the bond includes projects “that are absolutely a necessity for programs that we want to offer our students to ensure the growth and safety of our kids.” After all changes were made, the final bond package came out to $454,405,000. It is not expected to increase the district’s tax rate, according to Chief Financial Officer Lucas Janda. For more background on the bond, please read this article from Community Impact Newspaper.