After the district called its $484.2 million bond election this summer, Fort Bend ISD residents have expressed concerns about how the bond money will be used to advance academic instruction and how the proposition will affect property taxes.

In response to the community's concerns, district officials are reviewing the district's existing debt and unspent bond dollars to communicate which projects and improvements will be implemented in the next year.

The board of trustees established a bond oversight committee to assure accountability regarding the use of bond dollars, if voters approve the bond proposition, said local CPA Deron Harrington, who serves on the committee.

"I walked in with my own conceived notions, but hearing the rounding out of different vantage points on the committee was helpful," Harrington said. "There was a benefit of having consensus. We were able to look through a lot of different lenses to get a handle on everything."

The committee is made up of parents, teachers and professionals from fields such as construction and development. The committee was formed by the district to help reinstate trust between FBISD and the community, according to the resolution approved by the board.

"We felt at the committee level that we removed that negativity and potential risk that was out there that people have gone through," Harrington said.

FBISD's bond package would address the challenges faced by a growing district, Superintendent Charles Dupre said.

"We are operating by a proactive, prudent approach in Fort Bend," he said.

The value of residential development within FBISD's borders will reflect a roughly seven percent increase in the district's assessed value, which will allow the district to maintain its tax rate of $1.34 per $100 of valuation, said Steve Bassett, Chief Financial Officer with FBISD.

"Fort Bend ISD will be able to handle the bond's additional debt [without] requiring an increase in the tax rate," Bassett said.

Bond package

At its Aug. 18 meeting, the Fort Bend ISD board of trustees called a bond election to be included on the ballot in November. The $484.2 million bond package would make up the first of two phases that would supplement the costs associated with a district-wide plan aimed at aligning the district's facilities, instruction and technology resources.

"We have been through a rigorous process, [and] it was certainly a community-based process," Dupre said. "We are trying to address our growth in significant ways. In the next 10 years, we are expected to serve more than 85,000 students. We are building, expanding and growing."

If passed by voters, bond projects would be implemented over the next two to three years, at which time Phase 2 of the bond is slated to go to the board for approval as a separate bond election package. The bond draws from the district's capital plan, which was approved earlier this year. The capital plan was developed as a more than $1 billion two-phase document that will be implemented to guide district planning for the next 10 years, officials said. About $968 million of the capital plan would be funded through the 2014 bond and a second bond in coming years, if approved.

With more than 71,000 students enrolled for fall 2014, FBISD expects to see a continuous rise in student enrollment in coming years, Dupre said. In the next three to four years, enrollment is expected to reach 78,000, and 85,000 students by 2023, according to district projections.

Bond projects

The bond projects are divided into $365.4 million for construction and life-cycle replacements, $26.9 million for security and safety upgrades, $15.9 million for transportation needs, $39.5 million for technology, and $36.5 million for land purchases.

"Our goal is to seek items with this bond that really address our student growth," Dupre said. "We have a great number of students in portable [buildings] this year. This growth is a critical issue we are facing. It is important to us that we address our growth in a way that makes fiscal sense."

Although some projects are seen as necessity, such as new schools and campus additions, some community members have expressed concerns about issuing long-term debt for short-term improvements, such as technology, which typically need to be maintained or replaced regularly.

Technology upgrades, which make up about $39.5 million of the bond, would expand the district's wireless network.

"We need wireless [capability] in all of our buildings," Dupre said. "It is not the end-all, be-all for instruction, but it is a valuable tool in the classroom. Our network backbone overall is not adequate to serve our entire district. Our goal is to use these bond dollars to get [our system] up to date and use operating capital dollars to maintain it."

Other projects in the bond include camera installations at all FBISD high schools and other select campuses as well as cameras and GPS systems on FBISD's school busses. The bond also calls for four more elementary schools in addition to elementary schools No. 46 and 47 and Middle School No. 15. New schools would require land purchases, so the bond includes about $36.5 million to cover land acquisition.

CTE development

The bond package sets aside $59.4 million from the $365.4 million for construction to address the development of the district's career and technical education courses. CTE courses can offer students workforce experience. Coupled with House Bill 5 going into effect, CTE courses are expected to give more options to students, Dupre said.

The board of trustees is looking at the district's College and Career Readiness plan to analyze how best to move forward with HB5 implementation and CTE development. More data is forthcoming, and the board will discuss the plan in an October workshop.

"When the board approved the [College and Career Readiness] plan in 2013, HB5 was being drafted," said Lupita Garcia, director of college and career readiness with FBISD. "We didn't want to publish this plan until all the elements of HB5 were in place."

HB5 provides high school students with a selection of career endorsements that help advance their professional development through hands-on training and industry-specific curriculum.

If passed by voters, CTE improvements may include a new districtwide center or renovations of existing facilities, district officials said.

"There are many different paths, and we want to equip our students to pursue the path that is right for them," Dupre said.

Unspent dollars

Other concerns from residents are centered around the 2007 bond and how those dollars were used, Harrington said.

"The community went through this issue in the 2007 bond where money was earmarked for facilities and then [the district] began to slow down," he said. "When the market fell apart, we should have kept building, but we stopped."

FBISD's last bond election was in 2007 and totaled $428 million. Projects included construction of one high school, one middle school, two elementary schools and the Fendell Henry Learning Center, along with new buses and upgrades to the district's technology and safety resources.

"One issue that arose out of the [bond oversight] committee was to address this concern about the bond in regard to projections of cost," Harrington said. "Construction costs are going through the roof, and we are in competition with other school districts.

About $22.1 million is still left from the 2007 bond, Bassett said. The district also has about $63 million in unissued debt that is funding several new buses and the construction of elementary schools No. 46 and Middle School No. 15. Elementary School No. 46 is under construction near the master-planned community of Aliana and is slated to open in time for the 2015-16 school year. Middle School No. 15 will be built in the next three to five years. Elementary School No. 47 will be built in Riverstone and should open fall 2016.