HISD may seek $805M bond issue

HISD Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra announced Thursday that the district needs an $805 million bond issue this November to repair and replace aging schools — but the HISD trustees are expected to vote next Thursday on whether to put the issue on the ballot. Think that isn't much time to learn the details of a pretty big amount of money? You're not the only one: "I'm concerned about the timeline," school board member Greg Meyers told the Chronicle. "I'm just not sure this is going to give the voters adequate time to look at the plan."

According to KPRC, the bond proposal is part of a $1.045 billion facilities plan for HISD, a plan the district developed after a seven-month architectural and engineering survey of its facilities. The survey found that more than 9 million square feet of HISD space is at 40 years old or older, and that many of them need safety and security upgrades and new science labs. The $805 million includes $90 million for safety and security updates, $29.2 million for science labs in middle and high schools, and renovations and repairs at 128 campuses. Also included are 12 new buildings to replace aging schools, seven more new buildings that will consolidate two or more existing schools each, renovations and expansions to five schools, and three totally new schools that will relieve overcrowding at existing campuses (Channel 2 has the entire list).

The Chronicle points out a couple of potential roadblocks for the HISD bond plan: A secretary in the HISD bond department was recently indicted for stealing nearly $150,000 without anyone noticing, and Harris County commissioners are planning their own $1 billion bond issue this November to fund court and jail construction projects. But HISD spokesman Terry Abbott said voters should have had plenty of time to consider the proposal, considering that the district talked about needing $1 billion in improvements earlier this summer. And Meyers had his misgivings even then: "I think we're just now beginning to get the confidence of the voters, the taxpayers, in terms of efficiencies," he told the Chron in late June. "It would worry me for this administration to go out this November. I don't think it can be done in this short of a time period. It would be disastrous if it failed."

On the other hand, the timing could be just right: Changes in school financing could mean a few hundred dollars in property tax savings for the average homeowner — which would, theoretically, offset some of the 3-cent tax increase that would come with the HISD bond proposal. As for getting the information on the proposal out to the public, Trustee Harvin Moore said that isn't necessarily a problem: "It's not a lot of time and it's going to take a lot of work on our part," he said. "I think it can be done. ... And it's important that when we feel like there's enough information, the voters need to be able to decide."