Board President and trustee Kendall Pace said the board wished to give affected communities more time to meet and discuss late additions to the package.
"Next Monday, we will call for an election so that communities added late to the process can have a meeting," she said. "This also gives the administration the chance to craft specificity around legal bond language."
A conversation held among trustees last week resulted in a divergence from the original plans for LASA and Eastside Memorial High School. Instead of purchasing new land for the LASA relocation, trustees proposed moving the school into a fully modernized Eastside Memorial, and moving Eastside into the L.C. Anderson facility, also slated for extensive renovations.
Just missed the cut
Several members of the public appeared tonight to ask that the board add the construction of a northeast middle school on district-owned property in the Mueller development back into the bond, a line item that was recently removed.
"The board is prioritizing a LASA move over a new northeast middle school," community member Jennifer Sperandeo said. "Young families [in the area] do not consider our schools as a viable option."
Allegations of inequity regarding project prioritization were also made.
"We need a middle school to anchor the neighbors that I know will be leaving Northeast Austin," community member Candace Hunter said. "I’m asking you to invest well. Help out equally all students."
After several attempts by trustees to add the northeast middle school back into the bond package at its full estimated cost of $65 million, it was determined that this move would inevitably up the total cost of the bond package to over $1 billion, resulting in a tax rate increase.
The original motion of approving the list in its original form passed 8-1-0.
What's next
If the bond election order is approved by trustees next week, voters will be asked to authorize the issuance of approximately $990 million in tax bonds to finance facility improvements and to purchase new school sites and resources such as buses.
Voters will also be asked to approve the use of $44 million in prior bond contingency funds, as well as an estimated $40 million in proceeds from the projected sales of district-owned properties, to be put toward the project expenditures.
If the district is able to keep the bond under $1 billion, no additional burden will be placed on the district's taxpayers.
