At Thursday’s school board meeting, the Hays CISD board of trustees voted unanimously to approve Stantec as the architectural firm to design the district’s future third high school.

Rapid growth in the area has led the district to consider expansion to keep up. Hays CISD estimates there will be 6,234 high school students in the district by 2019. By 2020, there are expected to be 6,514. Right now, the district has two high schools, Hays High School and Lehman High School.

Back in March, the board approved plans to build the new high school at a location on Ranch Road 967, next to Carpenter Hill Elementary School.

The contract was awarded to Stantec, a Canadian engineering company with three offices in Austin. The firm also designed McCormick Middle School, the newest campus in the district.

Stantec was chosen after a design competition was held between the district’s architectural firms. The decision was based on their schematic design, the firm’s agreement to accept a specific payment schedule and their timetable for design, according to the agenda packet. 

To fund the school, the district will likely present voters with a bond in May 2017. If approved, the new high school could open as soon as the 2019-20 school year, Hays CISD spokesperson Tim Savoy said in March.

District officials say it won’t be long before growth sparks discussion for high schools number four and five.

“The need will be there,” Savoy said in March. “It will be a matter of bonding capacity. That will all tie in to the continued growth in this community.”