Updated 10:35 p.m. CST



The $484 million bond initiative for Fort Bend ISD is projected to pass by an overwhelming margin with 74 percent of residents voting in favor and 26 percent voting in opposition.



According to unofficial results, and with all 97 precincts reporting, the bond proposition received a total of 65,491 votes, with 48,201 votes in favor and 17,290 votes in opposition.



All results are unofficial until canvassed.



Posted 7:25 p.m. CST



According to unofficial early voting returns, a $484 million bond initiative for Fort Bend ISD has gained the favor of residents as 72 percent of voters are in favor of the bond, while 28 percent of voters oppose it.



Early returns show that 39,429 voters have voted, with 28,393 in favor and 11,036 in opposition, with no precincts reporting.



At its Aug. 18 meeting, the FBISD board of trustees called a bond election to be included on the ballot in November. The $484.2 million bond package would make up the first of two phases that would supplement the costs associated with a district-wide plan aimed at aligning the district's facilities, instruction and technology resources.



"We have been through a rigorous process, [and] it was certainly a community-based process," FBISD Superintendent Charles Dupre said. "We are trying to address our growth in significant ways. In the next 10 years, we are expected to serve more than 85,000 students. We are building, expanding and growing."



If passed by voters, bond projects would be implemented over the next two to three years, at which time Phase 2 of the bond is slated to go to the board for approval as a separate bond election package. The bond draws from the district's capital plan, which was approved earlier this year. The capital plan was developed as a more than $1 billion two-phase document that will be implemented to guide district planning for the next 10 years, officials said. About $968 million of the capital plan would be funded through the 2014 bond and a second bond in coming years, if approved.



With more than 71,000 students enrolled for fall 2014, FBISD expects to see a continuous rise in student enrollment in coming years, Dupre said. Enrollment is expected to reach 78,000 in the next three to four years and 85,000 students by 2023, according to district projections.



The bond projects are divided into $365.4 million for construction and life-cycle replacements, $26.9 million for security and safety upgrades, $15.9 million for transportation needs, $39.5 million for technology, and $36.5 million for land purchases.



"Our goal is to seek items with this bond that really address our student growth," Dupre said. "We have a great number of students in portable [buildings] this year. This growth is a critical issue we are facing. It is important to us that we address our growth in a way that makes fiscal sense."



Technology upgrades, which make up about $39.5 million of the bond, would expand the district's wireless network.



"We need wireless [capability] in all of our buildings," Dupre said. "It is not the end-all, be-all for instruction, but it is a valuable tool in the classroom. Our network backbone overall is not adequate to serve our entire district. Our goal is to use these bond dollars to get [our system] up to date and use operating capital dollars to maintain it."



Other projects in the bond include camera installations at all FBISD high schools and other select campuses as well as cameras and GPS systems on FBISD's school buses. The bond also calls for four more elementary schools in addition to elementary schools No. 46 and No. 47 and Middle School No. 15. New schools would require land purchases, so the bond includes about $36.5 million to cover land acquisition.



FBISD's last bond election was in 2007 and totaled $428 million. Projects included construction of one high school, one middle school, two elementary schools and the Fendell Henry Learning Center, along with new buses and upgrades to the district's technology and safety resources.