Student growth in Montgomery ISD has district officials planning for the next decade through a $256.75 million bond referendum that will fund new schools, security upgrades and campus renovations if approved by voters May 9. The bond referendum aims to address capacity issues at several of the district's campuses. There are 7,933 students enrolled in the district for the 2014-15 school year with an additional 1,425 students projected to enroll in the next five years, Superintendent Beau Rees said. "We have a number of facility needs as well, but 80 percent of this election is for new facilities to accommodate growth," Rees said.

Preparing for growth

In preparation for the bond, the district commissioned a study of existing facility needs, hired Templeton Demographics to study MISD's future growth and appointed a Resident Bond Advisory Committee, Rees said. That growth was one of the most significant factors driving the bond advisory committee, said committee member Becky Ford, who has two children enrolled in the district. "We were told the growth projections were very conservative, and just seeing how much we had grown in the past year and how many more students we were expecting in the next five to 10 years, we knew there was no way around not having new schools," Ford said. The board of trustees unanimously approved calling a bond referendum after carefully reviewing the community advisory committee's recommendations and studying the needs of the district, MISD board President Trish Mayne said. "MISD's last bond election was eight years ago in 2007," she said. The $256.75 million bond package includes provisions to purchase land and construct a new elementary school, junior high school and high school, and also provides funding for security upgrades, renovations, technology upgrades and transportation for existing campuses. If the bond does not pass, the district will have to address immediate facility needs in the 2015-16 budget, Rees said. "We're going to have to replace some roofs and do some [heating, ventilation and air conditioning] mechanical work that can't be put off any longer," he said. "That would impact the budget and salary considerations. We'd have to determine what our community didn't agree with and scale it down and come back [for a November election]. We don't have a choice."

Bond details

MISD purchased several school sites in 2009 and 2010 in the southern portion of the district to prepare for future growth. The bond referendum calls for the construction of a second high school at FM 2854 northwest of Rabon Chapel Road and a new elementary school and junior high school to be built off Keenan Cutoff Road. "A majority of the growth in our district is coming from the south part of the county," Rees said. "Our high school's capacity is 2,600 students. Our current projections for growth put us opening the school next [school] year in August with zero growth in terms of move-ins at 2,539 kids. So we are sitting there 61 kids away from capacity, and we are three years out from being able to get a new school on the ground." The district will also modify its grade alignment starting with the 2017-18 school year to avoid the cost of building intermediate schools and better utilize existing facilities, Rees said. The new alignment would place kindergarten through fifth grade together, sixth through eighth grades together and ninth grade through 12th grade together. "In 2017-18 we would open the new elementary and middle school, which will give us time to renovate the fifth- and sixth- grade campuses and Montgomery Elementary [School]," Rees said. Ford said some class sizes at Lone Star Elementary School already exceed the ideal 22:1 student ratio. "Especially at the elementary [school] level, it's important to keep a class size small and manageable so students can hear effectively and teachers can be proficient," Ford said. The bond also includes provisions for security upgrades, such as access control, surveillance, controlled entry vestibules, classroom intruder function door hardware and fire alarm and sprinkler system upgrades. "Our community was pushing to do something with the security in our schools to make sure safety for kids and staff [becomes a priority]," Rees said. "From now on, I can't imagine school districts will design new buildings without paying more attention to that."

Financial effect

School districts in Texas, particularly fast-growth districts such as MISD, rely on bond elections to build schools, particularly because more than 80 percent of most district's maintenance and operations budget goes to salaries. Another reason MISD cannot use general funds to build schools is due to the district's Chapter 41 property wealthy district classification, which means it is required to send $125,000-$500,000 per year back to Austin for redistribution to a property-poor district as part of the state's Robin Hood program, Rees said. "That's a big chunk of our local tax dollars that we would be able to use for upgrades and project renovations," he said. "To try and build a $120 million high school out of general revenue would be next to impossible. There are no other mechanisms for school districts to raise capital or borrow funds that you would need [to build a school]." The district's tax rate is $1.34 per $100 of valuation, but if the bond passes it is expected to go up incrementally over three years by 5 cents to $1.39, Rees said. "That would put us, based on the schools in our area, at the third lowest tax rate behind Conroe and Tomball and at the same rate as Magnolia and Willis," Rees said. "An average home in our district is worth $200,000, which amounts to an increase of [about] $7.71 a month." Mayne said she and other board members hope the community will study the details in the proposal and get out to vote. "A lot of the time people come to the polls just thinking about their taxes, but there's a whole lot more to this election than taxes," Rees said. "How we educate students and deliver instruction for the next 50 years is part of this decision. If people come at it from that approach, they'll see the value of getting educated and coming out to vote."