A Round Rock ISD board of trustees workshop Thursday focused on the school district’s finances and the possibility of calling a bond election in May 2017 to provide funding for new construction and educational programs. The district has until Feb. 17 to call for a bond election, which would take place May 6. Voters last approved an RRISD bond package in 2014. The $299 million bond went to improvements at McNeil and Westwood high schools, as well as new auditoriums at Cedar Ridge and Stony Point high schools. It is also paying for the new Joe Lee Johnson Elementary School, a new middle school, new buses and maintenance at several schools. Trustees' next regular meeting is Sept. 15. Here are some takeaways from Thursday's workshop: 1. There's a lot of potential projects and programs that could be included in a bond referendum next year. Trustees spent a good deal of time discussing what they would like to see in a future bond should they call for an election next year. The district has new capital projects in the works, including a proposal to build an indoor aquatics facility at an estimated construction cost of between $24 million and $31 million. Round Rock ISD's sixth high school— recently confirmed to be built on a site off Pearson Ranch Road—is expected to need bond financing. The district has also identified a number of new facilities it would like to pursue through its strategic plan, including a new STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) middle school, a world language academics for kindergarten through fifth grade, a career tech high school and a visual and performing arts academy. According to a proposed timeline presented Thursday by Corey Ryan, RRISD’s executive director of communications and community relations, the board would vote on a bond study, the membership of a citizens bond committee and its charter during the board's Sept. 15 regular meeting. Public meetings on the potential bond would be held in November before a final draft is presented to trustees before the end of the year. 2. The district may try to boost voter turnout and make it easier to vote. Based on feedback from the citizens bond committee from RRISD's 2014 bond, Ryan recommended that trustees consider implementing mobile voting sites should they call for a bond vote next year. He also noted that committee members felt the district could boost voter registration efforts. In 2014, each of the three bond propositions put to voters by RRISD passed by wide margins but drew about 120 votes in Williamson County and about 2,000 votes in Travis County, according to each county's elections department. RRISD overlaps both counties. Ryan said RRISD cannot tell voters how to vote in a bond election, but it can encourage residents to register to vote. 3. Trustees will vote Sept. 15 on a possible debt service tax-rate reduction.  Randy Staats, RRISD's chief financial officer, gave trustees three scenarios on adjusting the district's debt service tax rate. In one, the board would maintain its current rate at $0.2925 and use excess funds to defease the district's outstanding bonds, resulting in interest savings of $5.9 million. A second scenario would reduce the tax rate to $0.28 and also use extra money for defeasement of outstanding bonds, saving $3.9 million in interest payments. A third option would drop the tax rate to $0.255, but could result in a possible future increase in the district's debt rate, according to Staats. Trustees will decide what they want to do at their next meeting, Ryan said.