Trustees of Southwest Independent School District in Bexar County, Texas, voted last week to put a $165 million general obligation bond proposal on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Projects to be funded by bonds include a new high school and a middle school, renovations and technology upgrades at existing campuses, and replacement buses.
The district enrollment tops 12,000, with more than 600 new students in 2012.
Superintendent Lloyd Verstuyft said the district is preparing for population increases related to the oil boom in the region and the San Antonio campus of Texas A&M University.
The SISD would reach its capacity by 2016 without the construction of new schools, according to Verstuyft.
“In talking with a demographer, he told us the Eagle Ford shale and Texas A&M will probably change the skyline of south San Antonio, and we need to be prepared,” he said.
The Southwest Independent School District’s $128 million of outstanding general obligation debt has an underlying rating of A3 from Moody’s Investors Service and A-plus from Standard & Poor’s.
The district’s debt is enhanced to triple-A with coverage by the Texas Permanent School Fund.
The assessed tax base is $1.36 billion.
