(Marion) — Staying one step ahead of growth and securing its schools are among the leading factors behind the proposed $22 million bond election in the Marion ISD. The school district will be turning to voters next month during the Saturday, May 4 election.
MISD Superintendent Kelly Walters Lindholm says the bulk of those dollars, if approved, will go directly into the district’s elementary campuses.
“Part of it is to add 12 additional classrooms at our elementary campuses, our primary campus in particular which is our Pre-K through 2, a kitchen would be added there. Many people are not aware but our kitchen on that campus currently is a warming kitchen. It is not a fully functioning kitchen — full blown kitchen — because as we are adding students, of course, we are going to need to be able to have that functionality separated between the campuses to accommodate more students. It’s also adding a covered activity pavilion and then the renovation on that campus would actually be taking our old historical gym and repurposing it into a cafetorium with stage and music classrooms. With the music classroom addition at the elementary — currently, our elementary students have to cross the street to go to the Karrer Campus because that’s where the music room is. So making these changes, again, allows both elementary campuses to be pretty much on their own so that way students don’t have to travel back and forth and also taking our existing kitchen because it’s a large space and making that a new library and taking our existing library space and renovating that into like a learning center or stream lab for the students,” said Lindholm.
Lindholm says the additional dollars totaling $9.2 million will be invested at the secondary level with a portion of those funds going to the middle school.
“At the middle school, the only addition is the addition of an AG and CTE shop and the purpose of that is basically what we are trying to do is make each of our campuses be independent. Currently, our middle school students to go to their AG and shop class, they have to go across all the way, across the parking lot and behind the high school to go to the current AG shop so by putting that classroom on the middle school campus — and we have an area where we can put it — it allows that middle school to be pretty much be unto itself. The only thing those students would have to leave that campus for is athletics and all they have to do is go across the parking lot to the football field and the field house for athletics. The gym is on campus but that is the only addition there and it’s predominantly a safety concern,” said Lindholm.
Marion High School also stands to benefit should voters say “yes.” Lindholm says dollars will go directly into the construction of more classrooms.
‘The other big part of the $22 million bond is some additional classroom space at our high school campus. This would be the addition of a two-story classroom addition. It would have four science labs, six classrooms and some additional student restrooms as well which is something we are in need of,” said Lindholm.
Lindholm says the proposed bond issue is the result of a facilities committee and planning process that began in 2016. She says since then, the Marion ISD has followed and witnessed a road of projected growth.
“Historically our growth in the district has been at about a two percent mark. The information that we are getting now and because of the growth that is already here, we are anticipating probably more about a nine percent growth over the next couple of years and some of that is due to the housing developments that are already in place. For example, Harvest Hills is an area that is about half way complete in their projects and we’ve already been impacted about 100 students from that development. Most of the homesites that have come in so far have been more custom built type homes so those generally take a little bit longer to complete. What we are seeing now is the city is in negotiations with DR Horton, for example, to potentially bring approximately 250 to 300 homes to the area and we know that that would be on a faster pace. Those homes generally build a lot quicker I guess you would say. They can hit the ground a little bit faster and we know those types of homes are going to be coming into our area,” said Lindholm.
Lindholm says it’s projected that even with a moderate growth of five percent, the Marion ISD will outgrow its existing facilities by 2024.
“Even without that consideration, even with the homesites that I mentioned, Harvest Hills. We have Woods of St. Clair that has come in with home sites. We have Marion Park and there is just also a number of sites throughout the district because we have 80 square miles of district property. It’s not just the city of Marion. It also includes the city of New Berlin, the city of Santa Clara. We have parts of Cibolo in our boundaries for our district and there are a number of homesites that have come in throughout those 80 miles where there are perhaps 12 or 15 homesites. For example out in New Berlin, there is a tract of land that has been divided into about 12 sub lots and there are already three homes going up in that area. So, it’s not just the large developments, it’s also these pockets that are coming up around the district. Those are adding to our population,” said Lindholm.
Lindholm says every dollar has been planned to accommodate growth, for safety and security and to help maximize the district’s resources. According to the district, this includes “a mix of additions and renovations, strategically programmed to add core capacity to each campus.”
Lindholm says there are, of course, tax implications that go along with proposing the $22 million bond issue.
“Our M&O (maintenance and operations) currently is at the $1.17. Back in 2010, our voters voted to hit the maximum markup — the $1.17 mark — so that stays the same. That does not change. I&S (interest and sinking) is currently at 18 cents. What we would be asking our voters to approve is an additional 18 cents which would take our I&S to 36 cents. So, the total tax that is current is $1.35. The proposed tax is $1.53 total so the M&OW would stay the same and the I&S would increase by 18 cents,” said Lindholm.
The prior bond election for the Marion ISD was held in 2015 in which voters successfully passed an $11 million bond issue for athletic facilities.
To learn more about the proposed $22 million bond issue in the Marion ISD, voters are invited to a Community Bond Presentation slated for 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Marion Secondary Cafeteria.