Hutto ISD board of trustees approved the sale of $25 million of bonds Nov. 13 to fund construction of Norman Elementary School, which will be located in the Riverwalk subdivision off FM 685 south of Brushy Creek.

HISD officials said district elementary schools in South Hutto are exceeding capacity.

Nearly half of HISD's total 6,189-student enrollment is elementary students. The district has more than 80 percent capacity in all of its elementary schools combined, which is a trigger point for the district to begin construction on a new school, according to a new release.

Construction on Norman will begin Spring 2015, and the school should open for the 2016–17 school year, the news release states.

The bonds will be sold using a variable rate of interest. The interest for the first five years will be locked at 2.15 percent. A BOSC, Inc. financial advisor briefing the board said that by selling $25 million worth of variable-rate bonds rather than fixed-rate bonds the district could save about $2.7 million over five years.

"It is still extremely important that we continue to increase our fund balance so we can meet our debt obligation if we were ever in a financial crisis again," HISD Deputy Superintendent Ed Ramos said in a statement.

The bond sale will not increase taxes, the news release states. HISD voters approved $128 million in bonds in 2008 for the construction of two elementary schools and a high school. After selling $25 million of bonds for Norman, the district will have $94.5 million of bonds remaining to be sold, the news release states.