In a nutshell
Trustees voted to eliminate a new elementary school in Harvest Green, delay a transportation facility, and adjust fine arts and athletics projects from the $1.26 billion bond at the Oct. 21 FBISD board meeting. However, trustees and staff will discuss funding the school and other projects with a future bond at a November board meeting.
The overview
This move will save $95.9 million and allow FBISD to reallocate funds to other promised bond projects that are over budget, according to agenda documents. The October update shows FBISD is currently facing a $57.3 million shortfall, but district leaders said this could rise to as much as $80 million once the remaining project estimates come in.
Trustees discussed their struggle to eliminate the elementary school before passing the measure 5-2. Board president Kristen Tassin, who voted to eliminate the campus, said the district doesn’t have the money to fund the school.
“So we either have to eliminate it or we have to go back to the community and say, ‘We don’t have the money. Will you give us more money in order to build this school?’” she said. “And that’s a communitywide thing—it’s not just in this area—that all Fort Bend ISD taxpayers have to weigh in on that.”
The backstory
In May 2023, voters approved FBISD to spend $1.26 billion on school construction projects, technology upgrades and a natatorium. However, FBISD staff notified trustees earlier this year it would cost $163.2 million more to complete the projects than anticipated.
An investigation showed the shortfall was due to district leaders not adjusting project costs for inflation when the bond proposal was delayed from November 2022 to May 2023.
District staff presented trustees with their plan on how to cull the deficit during the previous September and early October meetings. District staff recommended the following plan during the Oct. 7 agenda review meeting:
- Delaying the district’s southeast transportation facility on FM 521, and potentially deferring some of the funds to build a special education transportation facility
- Eliminating construction on Elementary School No. 55, slatted for the Harvest Green community near Harlem Road
- Limiting synthetic turf projects to bring costs down $23.4 million to reach the budgeted cost, with district staff saying they would prioritize age of campus and condition of fields when choosing the campuses that would receive the upgrade
- Adjusting the fine arts project scope by reducing some classrooms at Hightower High School back to the budgeted amount to save $6 million
Digging deeper
Elementary schools in the northwest area of FBISD could be rezoned to accommodate eliminating Elementary School No. 55, with the area having both under-utilized and over-capacity schools, according to data from demographic firm Population and Survey Analysts.
Both Neill and Patterson elementaries are expected to exceed 120% capacity in the next four years, but several other schools are projected to be at less than 80% of their capacity, PASA President Stacey Tapera said at the Oct. 7 meeting said that without Elementary School No. 55, students could be rezoned to area schools as soon as the 2026-27 school year to alleviate overcrowding.
Trustee Rick Garcia asked at the Oct. 21 meeting if the school could be built smaller to cut costs while still delivering the bond project to the Harvest Green community. However, FBISD Chief Financial Officer Bryan Guinn said the district would still pay annual operating costs to staff the campus.
“Even if we build a smaller campus, the overhead costs associated with that campus will be about $1.4 million [annually], regardless of whether it’s a small school or a large school,” Guinn said. “So as we’re looking at this, we’re not only looking at it from a bond perspective but from a long-term financial impact.”
Looking ahead
While Elementary School No. 55 and some of Hightower High School’s fine arts additions were eliminated from the 2023 bond, trustees and staff will discuss funding projects with a potential special-purpose bond proposition during the Nov. 4 agenda review meeting. Other renovations at Hightower High School can move forward in the meantime, officials said.
During the next meeting, trustees will also discuss the scope and funding for the natatorium project, which was also included in the 2023 bond. The aquatic practice facility is expected to cost more than budgeted, but trustees will discuss whether to build it as a competition-style natatorium instead. which would cost up to $17 million more.
Guinn cautioned trustees against considering calling a bond before the remaining 30% of 2023 bond projects receive independent cost estimates, which could continue coming in until the second quarter of 2025.
