Nov. 7 is Election Day, the day Richmond and Fort Bend County residents will decide if Lamar Consolidated ISD's $445.5 million bond will be approved to help fund five new schools and make improvements to all existing campuses. Early voting begins Monday, Oct. 23 and runs through Nov. 3.
If approved by voters, the district hopes to fund new schools and land purchases, technology, interior improvements, athletics, food service upgrades and more. Three elementary schools are still in the works from the district's 2014 bond; Carter Elementary will open in 2018 in the Stone Creek subdivision, Culver Elementary will open in 2019 in Pleak Village and either Morgan or Tamarron Elementary will open in 2020, with locations yet to be established, according the district's communications coordinator Phillip Sulak.
Plans for three new elementary schools, one junior high school and one high school are included in the proposed 2017 bond, but no land has been purchased yet and the district's demographer only has estimations of where they should be located. The high school and the junior high also do not have a site—they are expected to help relieve overcrowding at George Ranch High School, Reading Junior High and Ryon Middle School, according to Sulak.
The average home in the district worth $231,000 would potentially see an estimated tax increase of $98 annually after all bonds have been issued. Depending on property value growth, the effects on the tax rate could differ.
Community Impact Newspaper mapped the proposed projects within the 2017 bond. Listed with the schools are the interior and exterior improvements included in the bond package. $316.7 million of the $445.5 bond has been set aside for schools and land, including the five new schools. These schools are not detailed in the map below because the district has not announced the locations of those schools.
Key: The three elementary schools remaining from the 2014 bond are in green. From the 2017 bond package, elementary schools are in blue, middle schools are in yellow, junior high schools are in orange and high schools are in purple and include needed interior and exterior improvements.