DALLAS — The board of trustees for the Birdville Independent School District on Monday night approved a plan to place a $128.6 million general obligation bond question on the November ballot.
However, board members for the nearby Keller Independent School District dithered over whether to include $17.5 million of debt for a new stadium in a bond proposal also slated for this fall, and they will have to meet again in an effort to reach an accord.
In order to call a bond election, each board must approve ballot language no later than Aug. 28.
The proposed Keller stadium was included in a $159.7 million bond plan presented to Keller trustees Monday night. Some board members, however, expressed concern that the inclusion of a new stadium could impede passage of other components of the proposed bond question — most notably, schools needed to accommodate rapid growth in the Fort Worth-area district.
In 2004, Keller voters resoundingly defeated a $153.3 million GO debt package, with many voters saying later that they nixed the plan because it included turf and other amenities for stadiums at two district high schools.
At the time, voters in many affluent Texas suburbs were defeating bond issues in retaliation for skyrocketing property tax rates and a failure by the Texas Legislature to reduce its reliance on local property taxes to fund public education.
Although Keller voters in 2005 approved a pared-down version of the earlier bond plan — for $99.8 million — district officials say a second issue is needed to provide funding for new schools.
On Monday, however, the Citizens’ Bond Advisory Board warned trustees that if they waited to place the proposed new stadium even three years until the planned 2009 bond election, the cost for that facility would jump to $24.5 million.
The bond committee recommended that the school board place three propositions on the ballot. The first would provide $132.5 million to finance the district’s fourth high school, two new elementary schools, and expansion for an existing middle school.
The second proposition would provide $9.7 million for expansions and renovations at the 5,500-seat Keller High School stadium. That facility, built in 1992, does not comply with standards required by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
Proposition 3 would finance the new $17.5 million stadium. Plans for the 7,600-seat facility, which would be built adjacent to the district’s proposed new high school, include artificial turf, locker rooms for the home and visiting teams, 2,000 parking spaces, and a 6,000-square-foot press box.
The Birdville ISD bond package marks the second time in as many years that the district has gone to the polls for facilities debt. Last fall, voters rejected most components of a $215 million GO bond question.
Trustees voted unanimously last night to place the scaled-down bond question on the Nov. 7 ballot. Included in the measure are the rebuilding of a high school and two elementary schools, expansion of a second high school, and renovations of athletic facilities at the district’s seven middle schools.
In addition, the bond package would finance a new career and technology center.
Rebuilding existing campuses would allow Birdville to update aging facilities as well as expand the schools’ capacity. Currently, all three campuses slated for rebuilding in the bond package rely on portable buildings to house classrooms and other facilities. The proposed high school rebuild also includes funding for a new performing arts center to accommodate larger programs and audiences.
Bond committee members say that they believe the items included in the debt package are the district’s most pressing needs, but they add that many of the projects included in the 2005 bond package — especially infrastructure such as plumbing and electrical work — are still required.
