DALLAS - While numerous other school districts across Texassaw their bond packages passed by voters last weekend, one West Texas community rebuffed a $34 million school bond referendum and a suburb of Houstonsaid no to $103.5 million of new debt.
Overall, voters approved $7.4 billion of school bonds in 66 of the 86 elections held by Lone Star state school districts on Saturday, according to Joe Smith, a former school superintendent and executive director of www.texasisd.com, a Web site dedicated to providing information about Texas public schools. Smith said that 95% of the dollar amount of bonds requested was approved
In West Texas, the Big Spring Independent School Districtsaw votersresoundingly reject the $34 million bond package with nearly 70% casting a ballot against the debt. The bond package included funds for construction of a new elementary school, a new roof and science labs for the high school, and renovations to three elementary campuses. The small, rural district is about 63 miles east of Odessa in West Texas.
Chief financial officer Sandra Waggoner said about 8% of registered voters in the district went to the polls Saturday, adding that there didn't seem to be any organized opposition to the bond package.
But the construction needs of the district aren't going away any time soon.
"All of our schools are very old," Waggoner said. "We built a new junior high with proceeds from a 1996 bond package that opened in 1999 and our newest school built prior to that was in 1964. We have one elementary school that was built in 1923."
Enrollment at the district's eight campuses has declined by about 2% each year this decade and the current student population is roughly 3,820. Waggoner said the district's five elementary campuses operate as neighborhood schools, and officials sought to build the new elementary school to have a more centrally located campus.
Standard & Poor's assigned a AAA rating to the district's $9.7 million refunding in 2005 due to the credit enhancement provided by the state's Permanent School Fund. Moody's Investors Serviceassigned an A3 underlying rating to the district's last new-money bond sale more than a decade ago.
The Crosby Independent School District saw its $103.5 million bond package fail with about 58% of the vote against. Voters had approved the prior two bond packages put forth by the district in 2003 and 1998.
The growing school system about 23 miles northeast of downtown Houston wants to build another middle school, increase capacity at a kindergarten center, add a technology center, and update existing facilities.
Enrollment at the district's schools has grown by 3% to 4% each for the past six years to just more than 4,000 for the current school year.
"Five years ago Crosby only had five grade levels that were over 300 students," superintendent Michael Josephsaid in a notice to the community. "Presently, all of our grades have well over 300 students and two grades have over 400 students. Using the 'Most Likely Growth' scenario from our demographic survey, every grade level first through 10th, will have in excess of 400 students by the start of the 2011 school year."
Moody's rates the district's underlying credit at Baa1. Neither Fitch Ratingsnor Standard & Poor's rates the credit.
