CITIZENS LEARN ABOUT BRENHAM ISD VOTER PROPOSALS AT TOWN HALL
Brenham ISD representatives and supporters presented details on Monday during a town hall meeting about a pair of voter propositions coming up in the November election.
(standing, left) speaks to attendees at a town hall on
Monday at the Margaret E. Blizzard Senior Activity
Center, covering details of the tax rate and bond
proposals that will go before voters on November
4th.
The meeting, hosted by Citizens Uniting for Brenham Schools at the Margaret E. Blizzard Senior Activity Center, offered need-to-know information about the voter approval tax rate election (VATRE) and $39 million bond measure that will be listed on the fall ballot. A panel of speakers, consisting of district officials and community members who served on Brenham ISD’s strategic planning committee, discussed the background for how each proposition came to be, as well as what they will do for the district.
Superintendent Clay Gillentine said the district has made cuts wherever it can, and it now needs the community’s trust to invest further in student education and staff well-being.
The VATRE seeks to raise the property tax rate for the purpose of adding an additional $2.45 million in maintenance and operations (M&O) funding that would be used for teacher and staff pay raises and for operational needs. The extra funding would not be subject to recapture by the state.
Strategic planning committee member Chris Ann Stroech said her family has had an excellent experience with the teachers and instruction in Brenham ISD, and she does not want to lose those people to neighboring districts that are able to pay more.
The $39 million bond would address a large list of high-priority capital projects across many of the district’s campuses, including issues with HVAC, roofing and plumbing. Because of the district’s early debt payments, it is able to propose the bond without increasing the interest and sinking (I&S) portion of the tax rate.
Dr. Heather Thielemann, who also served on the strategic planning committee, said much like in the world of construction, Brenham ISD must have a strong foundation before it makes additional improvements, and these propositions aim to fix that foundation.
Should both propositions pass, the next steps would be to develop a project timeline for spending and construction phases, provide regular progress reports to the public, update the district’s facility maintenance schedule for all campuses to protect the new investments, and engage in continued discussion with the strategic planning committee on potential projects to pursue in the future.
A second town hall meeting on the propositions will be held on Thursday, October 9th at 6 p.m. at the Washington County Expo.
Election Day is November 4th. Early voting runs October 20-31.
Further information about the election proposals can be seen at https://brenhamisd.net.
Click here to view the presentation from Monday's town hall meeting.