Voters to see $367 million bond on May ballot
BUDA — The bond process is a strenuous one, especially for a district that is growing as fast as Hays CISD, but the board of trustees has officially settled on a package that voters will see on the May ballot.
In August 2022, two months after a $115 million bond passed, the board charged the Facilities and Bond Oversight Committee (FBOC) to study the need for another future bond election. The FBOC compiled a list of potential projects for a bond totaling $423 million, but superintendent Dr. Eric Wright later pointed out that several projects would have to be removed or reworked in order to stick within the district’s mid-range bonding capacity at $372.5 million.
Public forums were held on Jan. 24 and Jan. 26 for voters to voice their thoughts on the bond. The board met for a special bond workshop on Feb. 6 to finalize the bond package and during the board’s agenda meeting on Feb.13, approved the $367.8 million package in a 6-1 vote.
During the workshop, the board deliberated for nearly four hours on the package, which includes four propositions — Props A, B, C and D. Initially, the board settled on a $361 million package.
During the Feb. 13 meeting, however, board president Vanessa Petrea suggested adding a weight room at Hays High School to Prop B. The weight rooms at all three high schools were previously removed from the project list and several voters have voiced their concerns with the lack of Hays investment.
“We’ve been hearing from the community, specifically our Hays High School friends, and it occurred to me that maybe there was another way that we could’ve addressed a need at Hays HS that frankly has been talked about for a decade,” Petrea said. “I want our Hays HS feeder pattern friends to be excited about this bond and I just keep feeling like they’re not excited.”
HCISD Athletic Director Lance Moffett explained that the weight room at Hays HS is about 3,040 square feet and “not an exact rectangle.” While the room is safe, he said, it’s “not ideal” in terms of getting students in there.
“The safest way to lift weights is in groups of three and what they have to do now is take bars and equipment outside,” Moffett said. “They have groups that work outside, they have groups that work inside. They take equipment in and out. So, it is safe, but it’s safe because they’re all spread out. If they tried to cram them all in there, then they’d be in groups of four, which is not safe.”
According to Moffett, the participation rate at Hays is nearly 800 students, while the participation rates at Lehman and Johnson are nearly 700 and 1,100 students in rooms that are 1,700 square feet and just under 5,000 square feet, respectively.
In order to make more room in the bond for the addition, Petrea suggested reducing the concrete and asphalt repair item in Prop A to $3.1 million from its initial $5 million. She also suggested holding the Dahlstrom MS drive loop for a future bond, but several board members voiced their opposition towards this, citing the school’s need for it to address traffic concerns.
“We really have heard [from Hays HS] for 10 years,” Petrea said. “Coach Goad sent me and this board a very strongly worded email many years ago. They’ve been waiting very patiently for this item. And there's been so much to do at Hays and we’ve done a lot: science labs, band halls, CTE, Shelton Stadium upgrades, a rebrand … But this is something I think we need to think about as a board.”
While most of the board supported the addition, trustee Esperanza Orosco said she was disappointed in the last-minute changes and how the other high schools, specifically Lehman, would not be receiving rooms.
Additionally, she said that should the item be added, it should be in Prop D for “the people to vote on it,” since it was already a “controversial item” within the community.
Ultimately, she was the sole dissenting vote on the package.
“I want to think about our phrasing and not do it because our friends are not happy with us. We have a [10-year] plan and it’s about making sure that we fulfill that plan and look at the whole project,” Orosco said. “I cannot support this bond how it is broken up. I don’t believe we should have done the weight rooms at the last minute without some more thought on that. However, once this passes, I will support the body corporate.”
The final bond package is below:
Prop A: Academics and growth, totaling $208.8 million
• Elementary #17 construction
• Initial design fees for high school #4
• Johnson HS academic addition
• Mechanical, electrical and plumbing cycle replacements
• Roofing cycle replacements
• Security items
• Concrete and asphalt repair
• Design fees for elementary #18 (or other ES expansion)
• Drive loop and drainage improvements at Dahlstrom MS
• Hays HS stormwater and water quality expansion
• Lehman HS North connecting drive
• Lehman HS retaining wall and track
• Lehman HS service drive
• Lehman HS stormwater and water quality expansion
• Adaptive playgrounds
• Hays HS canopy
• Bond support
• Purchase of 25 new buses
• Impact Center renovations
• Kyle ES improvements
• Tom Green ES improvements
• Initial design fees for future modernization/ expansion at Kyle and Tom Green ES
• Initial design fees for future modernization/ expansion at Fuentes and Hemphill ES
• Initial design fees for Lehman and Hays HS for potential future expansion
Prop B: Fine arts, athletics and CTE, totaling $102.8 million
• Baseball and softball artificial turf
• Lehman HS auditorium, theater classrooms and CTE classrooms
• Lehman HS orchestra hall and Mariachi hall
• Musical instruments
• Johnson HS allpurpose practice gym and rehearsal space
• Johnson HS rehearsal (band) hall
• Johnson HS vet tech to cosmo/barbering
• Lehman HS baseball/softball facility renovations (equity upgrades)
• Lehman HS parking improvements
• Hays HS parking and drive for baseball/softball
• Weight rooms at Hays HS
Prop C: Technology, totaling $3.9 million
• Infrastructure upgrades include wireless, data storage, network, network security; upgrade Business Enterprise software to consolidate multiple systems
Prop D: Outdoor multipurpose pavilions, totaling $52.1 million
• Installing three 84,000-square-foot covered pavilions with artificial turf; includes limited spectator seating Items that were taken out of the initial project list during the workshop were Prop A’s furniture replacements (the additional purchase of cafeteria tables at Fuentes, Hemphill, Kyle, Science Hall and Tobias ES, Barton MS and Hays and Lehman HS) and Prop B’s 8,000 square foot storage for athletics and fine arts at Lehman.
Additionally, fencing and gates at Johnson was removed from Prop A, as board members agreed that this could go under “security items.”
Items that were recommended to be moved to a future bond and remain “zeroed out” include a CTE Public Safety Training Academy and weight rooms at Johnson and Lehman, although trustee Byron Severance asked that Prop D include language that would make the pavilions “scalable” in case weight rooms were to be added to it in the future.
The election will take place on May 6. Along with the bond, three trustee positions — Single-Member-District 1 currently held by Raul Vela, Jr., Single-Member District 2 currently held by Esmeralda Pérez-González and Trustee At-Large currently held by Petrea — will be on the ballot.
