HISD asks for bond money

You know about the $1 billion county bond proposal that will be on this November's ballot. Now it may be joined by an HISD bond proposal as well.

Houston Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra said today that he needs $805 million in a November bond election to repair HISD's aging schools.

The proposal presented to the school board includes money to build 22 new schools and renovate 128 campuses. It also includes $90 million in safety upgrades and $27 million for new science labs at middle and high schools.

If approved, the bond would increase the property tax rate by 3 cents, Saavedra said.

"This program will mean new safety and security for every student on every campus, and new schools and repairs for children who have been waiting for them," Saavedra said. Included in the proposal is a new campus for Carnegie Vanguard High School.

[...]

While leaders of the urban district say they need the money to repair aging schools, some trustees worry that this abbreviated schedule won't give the public enough time to digest details of the plan. The board is expected to decide one week from today whether to put the issue on the ballot.

"I'm concerned about the timeline," board member Greg Meyers said Wednesday. "I'm just not sure this is going to give the voters adequate time to look at the plan."

Among potential obstacles for the proposal is the recent indictment of a secretary in the district's bond department on charges that she stole $150,000 in bond money.

In addition, Harris County commissioners already have announced a plan to put a nearly $1 billion bond package before voters on the November ballot.

But HISD leaders are confident in their plan, saying board members are well versed on the district's facility needs. They've always known that a third election would be needed to finish upgrading campuses, officials said.

In 1998 and 2002 elections, HISD voters approved a total of $1.5 billion to build 42 schools and renovate 114 others.

"It's not a fast turnaround," district spokesman Terry Abbott said. "We announced the details of the facilities report two months ago. This is just a question of identifying the election. It's been very public."

Here's the Chron story from before in which this plan was first floated. I spoke to my own trustee about this proposal, Natasha Kamrani, and she agreed this was a necessary thing to do. "I've visited a lot of campuses as part of this job," she told me. "There's a lot of them that need major work. Some haven't had any renovations in 40 years. I can't tell you there's a direct correlation between better facilities and improved test scores, but if you go to a school that's got a new physical plant, one that's open and airy, with new equipment and fresh paint, you can really tell the difference in the atmosphere. More importantly, so can the kids."

She also told me that part of this plan is to work on consolidating some underpopulated schools, so that funds can be spent more efficiently. We talked about the projection that HISD will continue to lose students over the next few years. She attributes that partly to rising housing prices in areas that HISD serves, which are pushing families out to cheaper areas. Apparently, there's enough new construction of lower-priced housing, which is already starting to attract young families, that this decline is expected to stop and level off in the next decade.

Anyway, I think the point about the difference between a new, well-maintained campus and an old one in disrepair makes a lot of sense. I know that from my perspective, the difference between the 80-year-old Stuyvesant High School that I attended and the brand-spanking-new building I toured on my 10th reunion was like the difference between living in the Middle Ages and the Internet Age. I have to believe that if HISD wants to remain a viable entity going forward, it has to have a modern fleet, so that it can offer parents a reason to send their kids to its schools. At the very least, it'll remove a disincentive for sending them elsewhere. Look for their decision about the bond proposal soon.

UPDATE: And Fort Bend wants $490 million in bonds.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on August 03, 2007 to Local politics