Election News Update

Bond Bells Ringing Across the State

by Eileen Schwartz

Nine of 10 bond programs in excess of $100 million were approved by Texas voters on Tuesday. The bonding programs authorize more than $2 billion in funds for new facilities, upgrades and repairs in three independent school districts in metropolitan Houston, four in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and one each in San Antonio and Round Rock, a suburb north of Austin.

More than 50 districts statewide held bond elections.

“We worked with many of the districts to pass their bonds,” says Mark E. Gerner, managing partner of the North Texas Region of SHW Group LLP, a Dallas-based architecture, engineering and planning firm that specializes in educational facility design.

advertisement

“In the bond planning phase, we noticed grassroots endorsement for long-term investment in the future of education in North Texas. That includes providing the best facilities possible to support that investment. This will certainly bolster the already healthy and robust environment we find ourselves working in.”

Dallas passed 12 propositions for a record $1.35 billion in bonds to fund streets, parks, flood control and major renovations for the Cotton Bowl and Dallas Zoo.

“We were supportive of the proposals and pleased that they passed,” says Raleigh Roussell, president and CEO of QUOIN, the AGC chapter that represents Dallas, Fort Worth and East Texas. “But what’s really significant is that this program comes on the heels of the completion of Dallas Independent School District’s $1.4 billion bond program.

“All that construction activity will be replaced and keep the industry quite busy for the next three or four years. The timing was perfect for our industry.”

Voters, however, rejected a $250 million bond proposition that would have funded maintenance and new construction for the five campuses in Houston’s rapidly growing North Harris Montgomery Community College District.

 “This was the first time in our history that our bond referendum appeared on a ballot in the general election,” says Steve Lestarjette, associate vice chancellor for public affairs with the North Harris Montgomery Community College District.

New state legislation requires that school districts hold bond elections on the general election dates in May and November.

 “Consequently, we had to compete for attention with major state and national races, as well as other school board races,” Lestarjette says. “Maybe we didn’t make our case.”

He adds that the district now has 46,000 students in credit classes and expects to reach 60,000 students by 2016.

“We are in a rapid-growth mode. Two of our colleges operate classes in portable buildings. Other colleges are near capacity. Had voters understood the need for new learning space—and understood that this bond would not raise their taxes—I believe the outcome would have been different.”

He says the district will now begin working closely with the community “to develop a strategy that addresses the growth we expect.”

Austin, voters approved a $567 million bond package that includes street repairs, drainage and water-quality projects and a new central library.

But the results of the election show that the majority of Austinites support the addition of a new $90 million, 250,000-sq.-ft. central library.