Alvin ISD will break ground on construction funded by the new bond in January, pending the board of trustees’ approval at the Jan. 8 meeting. The school will be finished in time for the start of the 2020-21 school year, Associate Superintendent Pat Miller said. Construction will begin on Junior High 8, which will be located in Meridiana. The immediacy of the bond is due partly to inflation as well as the growth of the district. “The school district is not quite half built out. We still have more growth in front of us than we actually have residential buildout and new students and new families behind us,” Miller said. “We’re going to double ourselves.” The school board is on track to award the E.C. Mason Elementary replacement in March, as it is in the design phase, Miller said. The district’s fourth high school, to be located off Hwy. 288 in Iowa Colony, is anticipated to be awarded this summer, Miller said. The $480.5 million bond also included money for safety improvements. Improvements, including safety cameras and vestibules, will be built into the new schools, as well as updated throughout the district as there is a need, Miller said. The bond included two new elementary schools, two new junior highs, one new high school, the replacement of E.C Mason and Alvin Primary, and the renovation of Harby Junior High. “It pushes us to make sure we are efficiently using the capacity that we have. In order to assure the best quality of instruction and the educational opportunities the kids have, we have to make sure we are maximizing the resources we have,” Miller said.