The Round Rock ISD board of trustees voted in August to place a $508.4 million bond proposal on the November ballot. All of the proposed projects were identified by the board as “critical needs” for the district. Some appeared on the voter-defeated May 2017 bond proposal and have since been altered to come with smaller price tags. Because of manpower and timing restraints, some of the projects would be carried out over multiple years with the bonds issued over time. Because of anticipated increases in costs for land, materials and labor, the district factored a cost increase each year for projects with longer timelines. “Escalation costs vary across the range of construction materials and labor,” Worcester said. “It can also change based on the availability of builders or subcontractors to work on a project.” If the projected cost escalation is less than the ultimate project cost, Worcester said project managers must see which materials or building features can be changed to bring the project back to budget. If the projected escalation is under budget, Worcester said the surplus funds will either go toward a different project or be spent on debt reduction. See the full list of proposed bond projects here.