Following a discussion at its Jan. 23 meeting, the Hays CISD Board of Trustees voted to approve a bond election on May 3, 2025, at its Jan. 27 meeting.
“We’re at a point where we need to get consensus from you so that we can turn this over to our attorneys [and] our bond counsel to draft an election order for your consideration on [May 3],” said Chief Communication Officer Tim Savoy.
Savoy also noted that the changes requested by the board on Jan. 15 were implemented into the draft presented on Jan. 23; one of which included combining proposition B and C together after the architects did value engineering to get High School #4 under $400 million.
As previously reported by Hays Free Press, the total for the proposed high school amounted to $424,448,826, but was reduced to $396,063,095.
The high price for the high school, explained Savoy, is, again, because it is for the construction of the full 2,800-student capacity — the district’s new standard — as opposed to the previous 2,250-student capacity that Johnson High School originally was.
Chief Operations Officer Max Cleaver discussed the sacrifices that are being made to reduce this price. There are 33 items on the list, he continued, but several of the big items include: using top soil and regular grass as opposed to artificial turf for the future Multi-Purpose Activity Center; eliminating the JROTC area; instead of all concrete parking, there will also be asphalt; optimizing the finishes on the building; and more.
“We have to basically ensure that these projects come in under these [estimated] costs, essentially, because there’s no more money. So, if High School #4, for example, we have $396 million in here that we’re allowed to go up to, but [if] it ends up costing $500 million, well, it’s not getting built,” said trustee Geoff Seibel.
Expressing a similar sentiment, Savoy clarified that the prices listed for the projects are the maximum costs, rather than the minimum.
In addition to the high school price, Prop D for athletic improvements has lowered from $75,866,015 to $51,354,633, while Prop A for general growth safety and rehabilitation of facilities increased from $469,537,892 to $494,846,931. Prop E for technology remained the same at $16,200,000. Despite the increase in Prop A, the total amount of the bond as of the Jan. 23 meeting decreased an approximate $28 million, from $986 million to $958,464,659.
Trustee Vanessa Petrea questioned where gym for fine arts students was for Lehman High School, to which Cleaver stated that this and the band hall storage upgrade was no longer included.
According to Petrea and Savoy, the line item is just for LHS renovations, so the money is not specifically allocated and, therefore, could be used for various projects at the school.
The following items were requested to be changed at the Jan. 23 meeting:
• Changing Prop C to be titled 'Multipurpose'
• Adding the fine arts gym to LHS
• Removing the portables, technology items, McCormick Middle School’s new driveway, the athletic and fine arts uniforms, provided bond interest money can be used to pay for these items “When you look at the fire academy, this is something the community can get behind. This is a service to our community … I want to support it; I’d love nothing more. The problem I’m having with this is the number of students it serves … I want to know how we grow this program by more than 25 kids,” prompted Courtney Runkle.
The taxpayers are going to be concerned at the price of the fire tower for the amount of students using it, she continued, so she encouraged staff to figure out how to grow the program. Trustee Esperanza Orosco stated that there should be no concern, as there was a time when the board voted on a $5 million pool with only 12 swimmers and now, there are robust teams and various sports at all the schools.
“We can use that for, not only, our fire academy, which will utilize it, we also have 693 students across three campuses, who are enrolled in a forensic science class and it certainly is something that can be used for staging crime [and] fire scenes for the students in that class,” said Rick Bough, Career & Technology Education director.
At its meeting on Jan. 27, Savoy provided updates for the changes requested, beginning with the bond interest usage. He noted that because there are not similar projects in the past within bonds, that past interest could not be used, but that the interest from the 2025 bond, if passed, could be used for some of the items.
The LHS fine arts gym was also added to Prop A, while staying below the requested $500 million.
The final $968,651,340 recommendation is:
• Prop A general growth, safety and rehabilitation of facilities:$498,937,541 • Prop B comprehensive High School #4: $396,063,095
• Prop C expansion of High School #4: $6,096,071
• Prop D Multi-Purpose Activity Centers: $51,354,633
• Prop E technology: $16,200,000 “I love that we’re doing this in all of the [propositions] that we’re doing. It gives it up to the voters to make the decisions. They get to vote or not vote — we hope they do vote — and I will say what I said last time: these amounts are the max dollar amounts. So, we do expect them to be lowered … With that, I am happy to vote on this tonight and move forward,” concluded Runkle.
The item passed unanimously. A more detailed version of the bond and a fact sheet will be online for the community soon, said Savoy, but until then, to view the adopted bond propositions, visit www.hayscisd.net/bond2025.
