The state-appointed board of managers for Houston ISD is set to decide Thursday night whether to place a historic bond package on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Texas’ largest school district is proposing a $4.4 billion bond, which would be the biggest ever in the state. It also would be the first bond for HISD since 2012.
Board members discussed the proposal at their meetings in June and July, hearing from administrators about health and safety issues at campuses and other needs across the district. They also heard from parents, teachers and community members – along with two local elected officials – who spoke out against the plan as well as the state’s intervention last summer and a series of reforms under Superintendent Mike Miles.
“The question for voters isn’t whether HISD needs a bond. We know it does,” parent Joni Fincham told the board in July. “The question is whether we can trust you, the appointed board and Mike Miles, with the largest bond in Texas history.”
The district proposes to spend $2.05 billion to rebuild more than 40 aging campuses and renovate several other schools, with a focus on elementary and middle school campuses. Some of them were damaged by the derecho windstorm in May as well as Hurricane Beryl in early July.
Another $1.35 billion is earmarked for safety and security upgrades, including lead and mold removal and creating single points of entry at all 274 schools. HISD also wants to replace faulty HVAC systems that have left students sweltering during the summer months and cold during the winter.
Miles said the district has more than $10 billion in needs.
“Our kids can’t wait,” he said. “We do have some serious safety and health needs today. And if the bond passes, that’s one of the projects we can work on right away.”
The other piece of the bond proposal calls for spending a total of $1 billion on technology upgrades, expanding the prekindergarten program and constructing three new career and technical education centers to complement the existing Barbara Jordan Career Center. Miles said the additional facilities would help improve student outcomes in a district in which about half of all graduates attend college and 14% complete college.
But board members have questioned the need for four career centers that would serve different geographic regions within HISD, saying the district should try to better utilize partnerships with local businesses and colleges.
A sticking point among district stakeholders is the plan for “co-locations” at a time when HISD, which serves about 180,000 students, has experienced an enrollment decline of more than 20,000 in recent years. The administration wants to build seven new campuses that would house a total of 15 under-utilized schools in low-income communities of color.
State Sen. Molly Cook told the board that closing schools is a non-starter among her constituents. That sentiment was echoed by Savant Moore, an elected trustee who has no voting power because of the state takeover.
“The only issue I have with this bond is the co-locations,” Moore told the board. “Those 15 schools need to be removed from this bond proposal. I’m letting you know now, if they remain on the bond, at a minimum, 70,000 people will vote no.”
Judith Cruz, a former HISD trustee who helped drive public engagement for the bond as co-chair of the district’s Community Advisory Committee, said she understands the concerns about the proposal. She also understands the need to improve the facilities in HISD and said there should be a sense of urgency.
Continuing to put off a bond could end up being costlier for the district, Cruz said, because of inflation and also because campus conditions will continue to deteriorate.
“At the end of the day, even if it gets placed on the ballot, it’s going to be up to voters to decide whether or not they support this,” she said.
