"Rising" is the word of the day in Pflugerville ISD.
Student enrollment is rising, the number of schools in the district is rising, and if the district's leadership has its way, PISD's bond debt will soon be rising.
Since at least 2012, PISD's leadership has been contemplating bringing a new bond package before voters. The discussion has taken a more urgent tone recently as the remaining revenue from the district's $125 million 2007 bond package nears depletion because of the looming construction costs of PISD's 20th elementary school, scheduled to open in 2014.
"To build anything beyond Elementary School No. 20, we are going to need a bond to fund that construction," PISD Chief Financial Officer Kenneth Addix said.
The motive for new bonds is clear: New funding is needed to build schools, repair the existing ones and improve the facilities and technology of a district that is trying to keep up with an annual influx of hundreds of additional students. Predicting the future areas of growth in the district, however, is an inexact science, and taking out millions of dollars in loans to build new schools requires significant faith in correctly identifying where the next surge of PISD families and students will occur.
"What we can do is look at what the demographers tell us the numbers are going to look like, and [demographers say the student population] is going to be consistently growing and moving east," PISD interim Superintendent Freddie McFarland said.
Calling the bond election
PISD leadership is still working out the details of which projects will be included in the bonds and what level of debt the district is willing and able to take on.
Former PISD Superintendent Charles Dupre began publicly floating the idea of a new bond package in April 2012. Initially, the plan was to hold an election in May 2013, with the primary motivation being the need for a fourth district high school. After a deal to secure land for the new high school fell through in August because of concerns from Pflugerville city officials over the cost of road repairs and citizen complaints regarding the purchase price of the land, the district decided to postpone putting the bond referendum before voters until May 2014.
"We have thought about having a bond [election] in the past, but it never seemed [to be] the right time," said Elva Gladney, president of the PISD board of trustees. "But now is [the right time]. The growth is going to force the board to call a bond election."
Finances in order
Although delayed, the next bond has been at the forefront of many of the district's recent financial moves.
Similar to the situation of a homebuyer paying off credit cards before asking a bank for a mortgage loan, PISD leadership has been busy reducing its existing debt in preparation of its next bond proposal. In August, the board of trustees approved a
6 cent property tax increase specifically for paying off existing debt. The district has also taken advantage of low interest rates by refinancing several of its existing loans.
In total, in 2013 the district was able to decrease the debt it was carrying by more than $41 million.
"Simply put, by paying down your existing debt faster, you increase your ability to borrow money in the future," Addix said.
District officials have been hesitant to speak on the exact costs and projects they will be looking to fund through the next bond package. A preliminary Capital Improvements Plan submitted by district staff to the board in February, however, indicates a wish list of projects that could surpass $280 million.
Included in the list of capital expenditures for the proposed 2014 bond are: about $132 million for facility expenditures including safety and building improvements, $119 million for two new elementary schools and a high school, almost $19 million for technology purchases and $10 million for new land, presumably for the next high school.
Based on the projected property values for next year, PISD expects to have approximately $300 million in overall debt capacity heading into the May bond election, meaning the final proposal could run even higher than the $280 million floated in February.
Before the final bond proposal is brought before voters, the district will hold internal discussions regarding what projects should be included and reconvene its citizens bond committee for its recommendation. The final approval over what projects to include and how much funding to ask for will come from the board of trustees. What is known is that the bond won't immediately affect residents' taxes because the district has reached the maximum allowable rates.
"What is going to be in that bond? We are going to be working on that the rest of the summer and into the fall," Gladney said. "We want to be as open and transparent as we can be—we are just not ready to present a list. We have a lot to consider and a lot of [information] to put together."
Build or redistrict?
Not everyone, however, believes new construction is the catchall solution for dealing with student population growth.
Within two years, the district expects two of its three high schools—Hendrickson and Pflugerville—to exceed their student capacities, with the third—Connally—reaching capacity in 2021.
At the elementary school level, however, the enrollment issue appears more complex. While there is little doubt several of the district's elementary schools in the northeast will be pushed well past their capacities in the coming years, many of those in the central and southwest sections of the district are expected to see stagnant or even decreasing enrollment.
"I don't disagree that we will need a fourth high school at some point. My only major concern is including all of those funds for elementary schools," said Melody Ryan, a member of the district's citizen bond committee and parent of a PISD first-grader. "How can you justify building new schools when you have [Brookhollow Elementary School] that is sitting nearly half empty?"
One alternative to new construction could be the redrawing of the district's attendance zones. However, while redistricting could save PISD millions of dollars in new construction costs, it does come with its own drawbacks.
In 2012, PISD undertook the redrawing of its middle school boundaries in anticipation of the opening of Cele Middle School. The redistricting shifted approximately 800 students into new schools and divided some neighborhoods into separate attendance zones. In order to even out the attendance of all of the district's elementary schools, it is likely PISD redistricting would affect significantly more students and neighborhoods.
"You have to cross that bridge when you get there because you don't know exactly where the growth is going to be and if other areas are going to be left with facilities that are being underutilized," McFarland said.
Ryan, however, believes PISD should consider a mass elementary redistricting when it opens its 20th elementary school in 2014.
"If you are already going to redistrict a few [schools], you might as well fix all of the problems," she said. "I think if they do that, it will greatly reduce the need for more elementary schools. It is not desirable to have to rezone, but I don't know if it is the most responsible thing to spend
$20 million on a new school when you have one that is [nearly 50 percent] vacant."
