During the Feb. 13 Tomball ISD school board workshop meeting, Chief Financial Officer Jim Ross presented a facilities update showing a need for new schools as the student population grows in the southern area of the district.

"We have some issues that were identified needs," Ross said. "We're going to need a new elementary school. Wildwood and Lakewood [elementary schools] need some relief. ... And so one elementary school was a need. We all know about Willow Wood Junior High ... and the need for a new junior high, and we all know about Tomball Memorial [High School] ... and how rapidly that school is growing and the fact that we need to expand."

Ross said due to rising construction costs in the area, the three most needed campus projects—including a new elementary school, a new junior high school and a 115,000-square-foot addition to Tomball Memorial High School—would cost approximately $153.1 million, including a 5 percent contingency cost but not the cost of land. Although Ross said overcrowding could be alleviated with attendance boundary changes, classroom-sharing, portable buildings and adjusting class sizes, one option being considered to pay for the campus needs is a bond referendum.

If approved by voters, the bond would allow the district to build a new elementary school by August 2019 and the junior high school and high school expansion by August 2020.

"Every year that we wait on this, it does cost us more," Ross said. "I'm not saying we rush into anything; I'm just saying sticker shock just keeps getting bigger because these are big numbers as far as dollar values go, and when you start saying they're going up 7 percent a year, that rise is rapid."

Because the district has paid of several previous bonds early, Ross said it has the bond capacity to take on $275 million in debt without raising the tax rate. Additionally, the tax base within the district has grown by 175 percent since the last bond referendum in 2013, Ross said.

Following the presentation, the school board agreed to approve a facility study beginning in March to determine the needs of the community and the district. The deadline to call for a bond election for the November ballot is Aug. 21.