BURTON ISD PREPARES TO CALL BOND ELECTION
On Monday, the Burton School Board plans to call a bond election for this fall, asking voters to help Burton ISD fund an estimated $43.8 million in improvements across the district.
As district enrollment continues to climb, hitting 514 students on Wednesday – in comparison to 476 students at the end of this past school year, Superintendent Dr. Edna Kennedy says having enough space for students and teachers has become a major concern. The potential bond seeks to remedy this with new and updated classrooms and facilities to accommodate growth, address aging school buildings and improve safety and security.
In 2016, a similar bond proposal valued at $18 million was rejected by voters by a tally of 556 against, 389 in favor. Dr. Kennedy says many of the district’s needs then have now become more urgent.
(courtesy Burton ISD)
Specifically, the bond would allow for the addition of classrooms and renovation of existing classrooms to meet Texas Education Agency (TEA) specifications, conversion of the elementary school gym into a band hall and practice rooms, renovation of the cafeteria and kitchen, an enclosed connection for district buildings, a new competition gym, new weight room and locker rooms, a new athletic complex featuring a 900-seat stadium and 8-lane track, and various site and drainage improvements.
Dr. Kennedy calls the upgrades that would be funded in this bond measure “extremely important” and says without them, the district would be put into a difficult situation.
Over the past 18 months, the board has researched the age and condition of district facilities through a comprehensive facility assessment, while also analyzing growth patterns over the next five years.
The last bond passed by Burton ISD was in 2008, which funded the building of a new elementary school and gym, bus barn and the Ag Building.
The district was able to tackle several projects over the course of the summer break, including the installation of bathrooms in three pre-k and kindergarten classrooms, a new floor in the band portable building, a new walk-in freezer in the cafeteria, and other floor repairs, room renovations and routine maintenance.
More information on the bond proposal is available at www.burtonisd.net.
It is our responsibility as taxpayers to provide children with the best learning experience possible in our school district. Failing to pass this well put together bond would be disappointing for the future of Burton ISD.
I am %100 voting YES to this. Our children need this.
NO voter wants to disadvantage children academically or have teachers assigned to closets!
Perhaps separating the gigantic sports complex bond from the true necessities to improve learning would have a better chance of voter approval. Or is holding the children academically hostage to the enormous 900 seat stadium actually the point??
That is the bond game…all major school bonds are TIED to classroom dollars. They do this on purpose so that you will vote on it
According to the Burton ISD website, this will increase property taxes of about $36/month based on a $200,065 valued home, or about $432 per year (on average). Most school bonds are issued or paid for over 30 years. Would a senior citizen who is currently 62 or 63 still be asked to pay the additional $432 per year even after he/she turns 65?
If you look at their list of proposed projects, $17.5 million goes toward the athletic complex, softball and baseball lighting, and a stadium. If you look even closer, there are athletics-related expenditures in the middle school and high school projects too. If you call it $20 million for lack of ability to parse out all the athletics-related capex, with 514 enrolled students, that’s about $39,000 per student before accounting for interest or the cost of operations. Does that sound reasonable on the face of it? If the failure of this bond would put Burton into a “difficult situation” then it seems foolhardy or perhaps disingenuous to tie the fate of a necessary bond proposal to such obvious and unnecessary largess. And I don’t mean to say that all of athletics is wasteful or that there isn’t some waste on the academic side, but this is clearly not a fiscally conservative, democratic, or just proposal. Why not put forward two bond proposals instead? One for the things you need and the other for the things you want. Let the voters decide each upon their merits. As it stands, if neither Yes or No is likely to be a good choice then thus looks to be a crisis in the making regardless of what voters are being allowed to decide.
The short answer to your question is because to add educational space they would be more wise to use the current football stadium site. If they keep the stadium in its current location and place the new educational building in the proposed football stadium site it would be a much longer walk to the current area. This wouldn’t be a problem except for those dang tardy bells and the like. Some of the athletic costs could be cut out of this bond but the bulk of it is tied up in the new stadium.
What would the tax rate be? How much in school taxes does a homeowner of a $100,000 home, with the current Homestead exemption, pay? How much would the same homeowner pay to fund the $46 million bond? For what interest rate does the Bond expert anticipate selling the $46 million bonds? When will the taxpayers have a detailed list of the renovations made to buildings? Does the Board expect the library to remain the same size? It appears the drainage ditch that currently runs beside the bus barn and softball field will be covered by parking. Does that mean that entire length will become a culvert? The elementary gym will be converted into a Band Hall, practice rooms and storage? The high ceiling of the building would be wasted, as well as the HVAC that is there now. How many students are in the Band program? The old 1964 gym is being kept as is, but we convert the 2009 gym into a Band Hall? So the old gym will become the elementary gym? The district will build a new competition gym. When practices are held after school, will HS boys and HS Girls “share” the new gym? Or will one use the 1964 gym? JH will practice in the new gym, on the other end of the campus, or will they be “sharing” with the elementary? Since the JH locker rooms are right there, I guess they will use the 1964 gym for volleyball and basketball games? Going to difficult for the campuses to “share” teachers, such as coaches. They will have to be on the hop to get from one side to the other. That may require additional staff to meet instructional needs. Will the “multi-purpose facility” be able to serve graduation exercises, Christmas program, drama/stage, Concert Hall, Athletic Banquet, FFA Banquet? Will the seating, concession stands and restrooms in the gym and stadium be configured to keep home/visitor crowds separate? So what are the plans on utilizing the Auditorium that was renovated at a cost of $1 million? It just sits there being heated and cooled at great expense, everyday. It appears the district is planning on using an entrance/exit at the curve coming from the hill at Shortstop. Will that not be a dangerous site for buses/ vehicles to enter the roadway, especially if they want to cross traffic to go north when leaving or to enter and cross traffic if coming from downtown Burton? Has the Transportation Department Engineer signed off on that? There is no practice field for football. Are they going to workout everyday on the turf? Hopefully they will know to move the spot for practicing PAT and FG or else it will get worn out. Same thing with Band. If they practice on the turf, coming in on the home side at the 50 yardline two to four times a week, over twelve or more weeks, they will tramp down and wear out strips after repeating their performance over the year. Do you plan to use the old football field lights to light up the new parking lot? Do you plan to put lights at the corners of the football field that can be put on a timer so citizens can walk or jog the track at night? If they are going to pay for it, they might want to use it rather than stomping the rough roads in town. Do you plan to move the current home stands to the visitor side? The prison unit could probably be contracted to do it for a reasonable price, they built it and I know they can do it. The visitor stands could be used at the baseball and softball fields or in the performance area for track field events. Including fencing and security cameras for the perimeter and gym and stands? The new buildings going to programmed with the other HVAC at school site? You know if you stagger them to come on about five minutes apart in the morning and cycle at night at more efficient settings you can save a lot of money? The electric company monitors “demand” at times of day. Kicking several units on at same time puts a big surge on power company. Ask questions about fire plans. Going to need more water and sewer. Make sure the plans include taps and upgrading city capacity. Make sure there are check valves to keep sewage from backing up into tour new buildings. City should do it, but they will not want to pay. Your demands for water and sewer will affect neighbors. Be sure to have contractor run the numbers. Make plans. Any inefficiencies or waste will really bite you. Having no one on the staff having done this before, the district should be wary and demand the contractor hold the contractor to a high bar. Someone should be checking the orders for steel, sheetrock, paint, fixtures, etc to be sure they meet standards and no substitutions. These guys will purchase big lots of fixtures from a company going out of business that will not back up the warranties or have used inferior materials. They can purchase sheetrock that is thinner or is made from poor materials, paint it and you will never know. Good luck.
You make lots of great points and I’m sure they will all be answered or are already answered within their website with explainations, pictures, mock ups, etc. I see lots of great design ideas with the use of space that is available to the district to keep all the students and staff together and safe. I eapecially love that elementary students can walk (with their teachers) from one end of campus to the other within a building, not just under a four foot covered walkway. To you band hall comment, the acoustics in a tall building are much better than a short roof. I’m sure the HVAC will be addressed. When in doubt, go visit and see how teachers are teaching from closets and and a jam-packed gym of students for a pep rally where is this no room for parents to sit and support their child. Advancement only happens if we have the way.
You have a few of the same questions and I’m sure they will be answered if the school board plans to have the same type of public comment opportunities as they did in 2016(?). I think some of them may be already answered on the linked web address and plan to talk to school board members when given the opportunity. As for check valves, sheetrock, electrical and water demand and usage, I’m just spitballing here but I’d bet they plan to hire an engineering firm to address these concerns as well as a licensed inspector to make sure everything is done to code, specs, and plans.
I am asking the public to please support the recommendation for this bond issue. Our students and staff need these urgent updates, new buildings and improvements.
Take a walk through the buildings/campus to view the needs.
Our children are our future. They deserve these changes.
Support the bond issue.