Cy-Fair ISD officials are set to embark early next year on a long-range planning initiative to meet the district's needs through 2020 in the areas of transportation, security, technology and growth.

The district will form a committee comprised of 50 parents, staff and community members who will begin meeting in early January to develop a recommendation to present to the board of trustees for approval. The recommendation could call for a May 2014 bond election, which would be the district's first since 2007.

"If we were a fairly stable population as far as growth goes, a lot of this wouldn't be necessary, but we continue to be a popular place for people to relocate to, and our school-age population continues to grow by 2,000 students per year," Superintendent Mark Henry said.

Although the district is still working off money from previous bond elections in 2007 and 2004 to construct new schools, the continued growth in the district requires the need for future planning, Henry said.

"We're in the seventh year of the 2007 bond program, which was designed to cover five years," he said. "There's a little catching up to do, but we are looking forward to working with the committee and showing them where we think the needs are."

The planning committee will differ slightly from other bond committees, as the work of assessing facilities and looking at the needs of the district has already been addressed by administrators, which is expected to save time.

"We're also not working off individual subcommittees," said Teresa Hull, associate superintendent for governmental relations, communications and chief of staff. "I think what is lost there is the knowledge of the areas of need for the entire committee."

Community member Debbie Blackshear will serve as co-chair of the committee. She is recently retired from the Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union and has lived in Cy-Fair for 35 years and continues to remain active in the community and district.

The first committee meeting is tentatively set for Jan. 7, during which the committee will discuss the process and timeline, review the district's demographic study and study the results of previous bond elections. If the board decides to call for a May 2014 bond election, Feb. 27 is the latest date one can be called.