A Round Rock ISD citizen bond committee has recommended a $530.1 million bond package be put before voters in May in the form of either two or three separate ballot propositions, according to a presentation given Thursday to RRISD’s board of trustees. The committee’s recommendation is a work in progress and contingent upon a decision by trustees to call for a bond election before a Feb. 17 deadline. If trustees call an election, it would be held May 6. Trustees can tweak the recommendation before the package is put to a final vote. Ron Buffum, chair of the citizen bond committee, said Thursday that committee members considered a wish list of bond projects totaling more than $900 million. He said managing the district’s expected growth over the next decade was a theme throughout the committee’s review process. “In a cross-section of our district, our enrollment continues and continues to increase,” he said. Trustees will make the final decision on whether to call a bond election and what the bond package would include. A final recommendation from the citizen bond committee needs to be submitted for legal review by Feb. 10, before a proposed package would be brought before trustees during their next regular meeting Feb. 16. The committee’s proposal includes three propositions:

• One proposition would include $369.8 million for growth, renewal and safety projects. That money would include $130 million for RRISD’s proposed sixth high school on Pearson Ranch Road in Austin, $35 million for a new elementary school in northeast Round Rock and $52 million for additions at Westwood and McNeil high schools.
• A second proposition would include $109.5 million for innovation and growth. This proposition would include $45 million to build a new facility to replace the existing C.D. Fulkes Middle School, allowing for the creation of a visual and performing arts academy and adding capacity. It also includes $39.5 million for school expansions that would replace portable classrooms at Brushy Creek and Forest Creek elementary schools, Canyon Vista Middle School and Stony Point High School. Finally, the proposition would include $25 million to establish a career technical high school, which RRISD would create through remodeling existing property.
• A third proposition would include $50.8 million for athletics and performing arts, including $22 million toward RRISD’s proposed indoor aquatic center and $20 million to add an auditorium at the district’s proposed sixth high school.

The committee’s recommendation offered two scenarios for how the propositions could appear on ballots. One scenario would have the three propositions included separately, and a second would combine the second and third propositions into one while keeping the same proposed projects and funding amounts. An RRISD phone survey of 302 registered voters within the district's boundaries showed three out of four RRISD voters would support a new school bond measure. According to the results, 76 percent of respondents said they would be “for” or would “lean more toward supporting” a bond with a $5 monthly increase, while 64 percent gave the same response for a bond with a $10 monthly increase.