Klein ISD begins planning projects following passage of $498.1 million bond[/caption]

Klein ISD After voters in Klein ISD showed their support for the district’s $498.1 million bond referendum
May 9, KISD has begun planning for the added funding.

“This bond is good for this community,” Superintendent Jim Cain said at a board of trustees meeting May 11. “I’m grateful for this board of trustees for your support and all the folks out there who supported this bond.”

The board approved the sale of $170 million in bonds for many of the projects included with the bond at a meeting May 18. Robert Robertson, assistant superintendent for facilities, said the sale included $18 million from the 2008 bond authorization, of which another $30 million remains.

Robertson said the bulk of the bonds sold will go toward the construction of High School No. 5, the largest project in the 2015 bond package that is set to open in fall 2017. He said the school’s second phase of construction will begin soon, including the erection of steel beams for the building’s frame.

The rest of the bond sale will provide funding for the northern agricultural facility, land purchases, design fees for Intermediate School No. 10 and the district’s second early childhood-prekindergarten center as well as $15 million in technology projects and $21 million for renovation and repair projects.

The $170 million bond sale is expected to provide funding for two years’ worth of construction, Robertson said. The nearly $500 million bond is expected to provide funds for projects for the next eight years.

“Most of the stuff in that new sale and in the new bond money—aside from High School No. 5—is going to take planning and design time before we see anything take place,” he said.

Robertson said KISD will name an architect for Intermediate School
No. 10 in June. The design process for the school, which is expected to open in 2018, will then begin before a contractor is named. Construction on the school could begin in the first quarter of 2016.