With early voting underway for the Frisco ISD $775 million bond referendum, school district officials as well as groups both for and against passage of the bond, while hoping for different outcomes, still have one unified goal in mind. They want to make certain residents go to the polls.

Historically low voter turnout for school district elections combined with no trustee candidates on the ballot means convincing voters to exercise their democratic rights may be an uphill battle.

However, it is a battle Frisco ISD Superintendent Jeremy Lyon said the school district has done its best to win by making polling locations as convenient as possible and hosting forums as well as other community meetings to engage residents and answer questions.

Through those engagement efforts, he said the district is trying to ensure voters are on the same page as the district in understanding its needs

"We are doing all we can to promote voter turnout," he said.

Lyon said voter turnout is part of a larger problem across the nation.

"There are forces out there that are such that we can't be complacent," he said.

He said it is critical voters take into consideration the district's success and past accomplishments, as well as the "true facts" of the school's past bond history and current situation.

Two political action committees—Frisco Schools First and The Responsible Spending Coalition of Texas—are working to get residents to the polls as well, with the former looking for a "for" vote and the latter an "against" vote.

Bond support

The Frisco Schools First PAC consists of local residents who support the proposal. They too are worried about voter complacency.

"Frisco has a reputation of passing bond packages at a high rate," said Buddy Minett, Frisco Schools First co-chairperson. "However, since it's the only thing on the ballot, we are concerned that people aren't going to have another reason to get out and vote.

The PAC's advocacy efforts include Facebook, its website, block walking and hosting community meetings. Members are also touting the list of endorsements for the bond including: Frisco City Manager George Purefoy, Frisco Mayor Maher Maso, Frisco Chamber of Commerce President Tony Felker, the Frisco Chamber of Commerce as well as the Frisco Council of PTAs and numerous individual school PTAs.

"Our goal is to get the word out that there is an election," he said. "We are quite comfortable that if people get out and vote, they will overwhelmingly support the bond package."

Minett said the bond is necessary to continue the school district's reputation of providing a quality education for the "best price in the state," as well as dealing with its unprecedented growth, which he said is not likely to slow anytime soon.

"We don't have the luxury of not building schools," he said.

Minett maintains bond funds are needed to avoid portables at many campuses and overcrowding in classrooms as well as in common areas such as lunchrooms and hallways. While classrooms can be added in the form of portables, he pointed out the common areas are not as easy—or inexpensive—to expand.

"Even for people who don't have kids, overcrowded schools affect property values—they will suffer," he said. "School and city taxes will go up as property values fall."

Minett said he thinks Frisco ISD is capable of handling the debt load the bond would bring and still has room to increase the tax rate before it hits the state-set limit.

He also said selling school bonds does not necessarily make tax rates go up. For example, he said the district has sold bonds the last three years and the tax rate has remained the same. The district also only sells bonds as needed according to growth—typically around $115 million per year.

He said the district's reputation of keeping up with the growth and supporting its schools is also a huge draw for business.

"If I'm a corporation—Our [Frisco Economic Development Corp.] will be the first ones to say—FISD is our No. 1 recruitment tool," Minett said. "Once [residents] stop supporting the schools, [the EDC] can't use FISD as a lead. It becomes a drag instead. We shouldn't be so short-sighted as to kill the impetus that is driving people here.

"[Recruiting business is] the kind of stuff that keeps your taxes low, not skimping on a bond package that may or may not raise your rate," Minett said.

Find more information about Frisco Schools First online at www.friscoschoolsfirst.com.

Bond opposition

The Responsible Spending Coalition of Texas is a locally-developed PAC in opposition to the current bond proposal with no ties to state or national level groups, said coalition President Tom Fabry.

He said the organization was formed in late March with the intention of bringing attention to issues including FISD decisions, its direction and the amount of risk involved with the bond.

"The initial sets of concerns we had were all about financial risk," he said.

Those concerns include the amount of debt, inflated pricing in the bond proposal, the accumulation of debt and how that debt would be repaid, he said.

Fabry believes residents' tax rates will take a much bigger hit in the long-term than the district's maximum rate increase of $17 per month.

"This picture that's painted, when you peel it back, gets very concerning," he said.

Fabry said the RSCT is not advocating to stop building schools, but wants FISD to build fewer schools with a smaller bond package that would cover a shorter period of time.

"There are no valid arguments against building schools, he said. "In fact, we recommend 10 [schools] and a bunch of other money for some of the maintenance issues and some of the upgrades."

He said the coalition agrees with the district's decision to buy land for future schools now while property values are lower.

"All we are saying today is that that kind of amount of money, $775 million or $1.3 [billion], whatever you want to position it, needs to be something around $400 million/$450 million which will build us out through the 2018-19 school year," he said. "When [the school district] has been good stewards of our money, and when we have solid demographic data—not projections—then come back to the community and if the dollars make sense and we can pay for it, we'll give another bond authorization."

Fabry said the coalition is asking FISD to be "sane about this, be prudent, be transparent."

"The citizens of this town are well educated," Fabry said. "The citizens of this town are engaged, and when somebody comes to us and gives us a coherent story, a fiscally responsible story about how we can afford this, we'll step up. Right now in my mind, there are too many risk issues."

Fabry said the coalition also questions how some of the 2003 and 2006 bond money was spent, as FISD—unlike a city or government entity—is not required to spend bond funds exactly as stated in the bond proposal.

Find more information about the Responsible Spending Coalition of Texas and its position on the bond proposal at www.responsiblespendingcoalition.org.

Voting

Early voting continues through May 6 for the Frisco ISD $775 million bond referendum. Voting will culminate on election day, May 10.

Residents are required to vote in the county where they live.

Collin County voters may vote at any Collin County voting location. Visit www.co.collin.tx.us for polling location information.

Denton County voters may vote at any Denton County polling location during early voting, but must vote at their assigned precinct location on election day. Visit www.co.denton.tx.us for polling location information.

Frisco ISD is also offering early voting at 49 schools at designated dates and times. Visit www.friscoisd.org for the full schedule.

Residents must be registered to vote, and a valid form of ID must be presented at the polling place.