During its Nov. 16 meeting, the PISD board of trustees discussed putting together a task force to evaluate plans for the possible bond.
“We’ll come back at a future meeting and update [the board] on the draft priorities [for the bond],” Superintendent Sara Bonser said. “We look forward to taking some next steps.”
The district’s last bond package was approved by more than 78% of PISD voters in 2016. That package included funds for the construction of the district’s Robbie & Lynore Robinson Fine Arts Center as well as allotments for renovations and upgrades, technology, expansion of classes and program capacity, early childhood education, safety and security, buses and athletics.
“Over the last 20 years, you can see that PISD has a standing history of evaluating facilities and actually spending money,” PISD Chief Financial Officer Johnny Hill said during the board’s Dec. 7 meeting. “We want a very nice environment for our students and staff. Our goal is just to continue that process going forward.”
As part of the assessment of PISD’s nearly 9.4 million square feet of facilities, each of the district’s 72 campuses and 19 auxiliary facilities received a score between 0-100, Hill said. Those scores were based on the percent of useful life remaining, its history of work orders and a visual evaluation, according to his presentation to the board. An assessment score of 50 or below puts a building in consideration for improvements as part of the next bond package.
“The [assessment] reports will go through a filter of a committee that will actually evaluate ... what they feel like we can afford,” Hill said. “What we're looking for [with the assessment] is ... areas that we need to continue to have a conversation about.”
In addition to a potential 2022 bond, Juan Ramos, the district's executive director of facility services and new construction, said the facilities assessment will continue to be updated to help track PISD’s future needs.
“This is not going to be something that [is] just for this bond, but [also] for further down the road, 20 years from now,” Ramos said during the Dec. 7 meeting.
