5 takeaways from the district’s $4.4 billion proposal

As Houston ISD leaders consider asking voters to approve the largest school bond program in Texas history, the details of their plan are beginning to take shape.

HISD this week released its most detailed information yet on how it could spend $4.4 billion to renovate and rebuild campuses, repair broken overhead systems, improve security and more. HISD’s state-appointed board of trustees will decide in the coming weeks whether to impose a bond for the November ballot.

A successful bond election authorizes school districts to use property tax dollars to fund investments in campus facilities, technology and other items. HISD said its $4.4 billion package would not increase the tax rate on bond spending, which is about 17 cents per $100 of assessed value, or about $445 a year for the average homeowner. (Property owners pay additional taxes on HISD operating expenses, such as employee salaries.)

HISD last adopted a bond 12 years ago, although large urban school districts typically ask voters to approve a bond about every five years. In recent years, HISD leaders have opted not to hold bond elections amid instability in the district, including the looming threat of state takeover of the district.

A recent poll suggests voters may be receptive to the current proposal, with about two-thirds of nearly 3,000 HISD residents surveyed by Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research saying they would support a bond if it did not increase property taxes by more than $25 per year. .

However, some community members also said they do not have confidence in Superintendent Mike Miles, who was appointed last year by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, to spend responsibly bond money. At recent community meetings, some participants handed out flyers saying “no trust, no connection.”

As the HISD community takes stock of the proposed investments and what they would mean, here are five takeaways from the plans released so far. For more details on the proposed plans for each campus, search below or click here for more information.

1. Primary and secondary schools will see the biggest improvements

All schools will benefit from some level of investment under the bond plan, but elementary and secondary schools will receive the vast majority of funds – about $3.1 billion out of a total of $3.3 billion. dollars earmarked for campus improvements.

HISD’s youngest learners will benefit the most from the investments, as these campuses have gone the longest without receiving facility upgrades. HISD’s 2012 bond largely targeted high schools, meaning most elementary and secondary schools have not received structural fixes since the district’s 2007 bond issuance.

Two dozen of HISD’s elementary and middle schools were built in the 1930s or earlier, and families interviewed by Houston Landing in April said some campuses were in dire need of repairs. In extreme cases, they said schools had rats, mold and bathrooms filled with stagnant water.

2. More than 30 schools will be rebuilt and undergo major renovations

HISD plans to rebuild or renovate approximately 35 schools in need of the greatest improvements, at a total cost of $2.5 billion.

Eighteen schools would be completely rebuilt, while 16 would be renovated or expanded.

Of the 18 schools to be rebuilt, eight would benefit from investments of more than $100 million. These schools are:

• Lanier Middle School ($180 million)
• Black college ($178 million)
• Revere Middle School ($162 million)
• Fleming Middle School ($150 million)
• Holland Middle School ($149 million)
• Hamilton Middle School ($144 million)
• Bonham Elementary School ($121 million)
• McNamara Elementary School ($120 million).

Full details on these and other campuses are available in the Landing’s searchable database of HISD’s reported bond plans.

The approximately 35 campuses slated for reconstruction and renovation collectively use 500 temporary trailer-like structures to educate students. Classrooms, located on campus but outside the main building, can be difficult to heat and cool. HISD said it hopes to move many students out of the district’s roughly 1,400 structures through its bond investments.

3. Some schools “collocate” on another campus, but keep staff

Eight schools could move and merge on another campus. Under that arrangement, the merged schools would operate separately and maintain much of their own staff, although they would share some facilities like cafeterias and gymnasiums, Miles said.

Under the bond plan, six elementary schools would move to existing middle school campuses, while two middle schools would join existing elementary school campuses. Many host campuses would need to be rebuilt, modernized and expanded.

Suggested movements include:

• Blackshear Elementary School moves to Baylor College of Medicine from Ryan Middle School
• Kashmere Gardens Elementary School moves to Key Middle School
• Sanchez Elementary School moves to Deady Middle School
• Isaacs Elementary School moves to Fleming Middle School
• Port Houston and Pleasantville elementary schools join Holland Middle School
• Edison Middle School, moves to Franklin Elementary School
• Project Chrysalis Middle School, which is already co-located with Cage Elementary School, is moving to a newly constructed Cage Elementary campus.

4. New pre-kindergarten classrooms and career and technical education campuses

HISD has said it plans to use about $1 billion from the bond program to fund investments in preschool, new technology and career and technical education, although details on the plans remain scarce.

The district currently has enough kindergarten seats for about 14,000 students, equivalent to only a third of the district’s 3- and 4-year-olds. The bond proposal would allow HISD to open about 4,000 new seats, district officials said, which is less than a fifth of the existing gap.

HISD did not specify where the new pre-kindergarten classrooms would open, but it identified the Wisdom and Lamar high school feeding models as areas of greatest need.

For career and technical education, HISD announced plans to open four new campuses in addition to the current Barbara Jordan Career Center, which functions as a district-wide hub. Officials have not released prices or exact locations of the potential new schools, but have said they will be spread across the district, with one in each quadrant. The new centers would focus on key industries in the Houston area, HISD said, including construction, energy, healthcare and information technology.

5. HISD expects enrollment to continue to decline

District officials expect HISD to continue bleeding students in the coming years, losing about 10,000 students by 2028-29, according to projections included in the bond plan.

The 269 HISD campuses included in the plan, which excludes the district’s virtual charter school and several other district charter schools, enrolled about 171,000 children during the past school year. This total is expected to fall to 161,000 in 2028-29.

HISD has lost students over the past eight years, with districtwide enrollment falling from 216,000 in 2016-17 to about 184,000 in 2023-24.

Asher Lehrer-Small covers education for the Landing and would love to hear your tips, questions and story ideas about Houston ISD. Contact him at [email protected].

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