Arlington ISD to Seek $198 Million Of GOs in Rare New-Money Request

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DALLAS - The Arlington Independent School District will ask voters this November for $197.5 million of general obligation bonds, the Texas district's first new-money request in 10 years.

Trustees met in an unusual Sunday meeting to set the bond election for Nov. 3. The district has not asked voters for GO bonds since early 1999, when $261.7 million of debt was authorized.

"The board had to vote on the election by Sept. 3, and this was the only time it was possible," said Veronica Sopher, public information director for Arlington ISD.

The district, located in Tarrant County between Dallas and Forth Worth, serves Arlington and portions of Grand Prairie, Pantego, and Dalworthington Gardens.

The district's GO debt has an underlying rating of Aa2 from Moody's Investors Service. Arlington ISD has approximately $405 million of outstanding debt.

The district's financial adviser is First Southwest Co. McCall, Parkhurst & Horton LLP is bond counsel.

The bond package was developed by a 34-member committee that was charged with determining the district's needs through 2015. The committee began meeting in April, and delivered its report to the district in late July.

If voters approve, the bonds would provide $115.8 million to build a new elementary school and repair, add to, and upgrade existing facilities. Other allocations include $60 million for new technology, $13.3 million for 120 new buses, and $8.3 million for fine arts programs, including orchestra and band uniforms and instruments.

The additional debt would require a five-cent increase by 2011 in the ISD's property tax rate of $1.272 per $100 of assessed value. District officials said approval of the bonds would cost a resident with a home valued at $100,000, with a $15,000 homestead exemption, about $40 a year in additional tax.

Superintendent Jerry McCullough said Sunday that the district has many needs after 10 years without a bond election.

"The bond committee has studied it in detail, and the recommendations are things we need to provide the education our students deserve," he told trustees.

Sopher said the district plans only one new school over the next five years because enrollment has leveled off at some 63,000 students. Arlington ISD operates 74 schools, including 52 elementary schools, 13 junior high schools, and nine high schools.

"We've been stable for about the last three years," she said. "There are many apartment complexes in the eastern portion of the district, but our demographer tells us that families tend to move from complex to complex, and not in or out of the district."

The district will build new high school science labs, and replace floors and roofs at a number of campuses. Many are beyond their capacity, Sopher said, and the bond-financed additions will reduce the number of portable buildings.

She said the $60.6 million technology allocation would allow the district to upgrade computers, almost half of which are five years old but are already becoming obsolete.

"We have teachers receiving grants who can't operate the required software on their computers," Sopher said.

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