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Navarro ISD orders $160 million Bond Issue Election

Seguin, TX, USA / Seguin Today
Navarro ISD orders $160 million Bond Issue Election


(Geronimo) — Navarro ISD voters will be heading to the polls this fall to decide on two separate bond propositions totaling 160-million dollars. Trustees on Friday unanimously called for the Nov. 2 election.

On that day, voters will get to decide on two separate bond proposals. If approved, they would include a brand new high school, a second elementary school and a full athletic complex.

Navarro ISD Superintendent Wendi Russell says rapid growth for the district has prompted the district to move forward with the bond election. She says Proposition A includes $130 million for buildings and facilities.

“Back in 2018, the conversations began with, what does the district need? Let’s look at the growth. And with our new home developments coming in, we have over 20 coming in, along with some apartments, we know that the growth is coming, and we’re not stopping it, so we’ve got to embrace it. We will need a high school, so this bond will include a high school building and a second elementary along with the purchase of land, school buses –– because as we grow, we can increase our routes, so we need more buses.” 

“Refurbishing and restructuring of the other buildings as necessary as we get into the building process so it encompasses a lot,” said Russell.

Next is Proposition B. Russell says this proposition includes $30 million for a full athletic complex to be built on the site of the new high school building.

“It would be a full-blown football stadium –– softball, baseball fields, and tennis courts. Of course we will keep our old facilities as well, so we could use those for junior high if we needed to,” said Russell.

Russell says the facilities are desperately needed to help carrying out the district’s five year plan. She says with the current growth pattern, both the high school and current elementary school will soon be operating at full capacity.

“Basically, that is our five-year plan. We’ve looked at our demographic studies, and we know that looking at the demographic studies from Templeton (Demographics), with just 250 to 350 homes coming in per year, our high school will be at capacity in the 2022-2023 school year. That’s six-hundred and fifty students.  And then our elementary will be at capacity at the 2024-2025 school year, and that’s 650 students. So looking at that, we know within five years, with our growth, and that’s a very small growth of 250 to 350 homes, we feel like we will definitely be beyond that growth. We have the capacity to build the high school right now if it passes. If the bond were to pass, we would sell the bonds that would first supply us with the money needed for the high school. And after the high school, we would sell bonds for either the elementary or the athletic complex, whichever is needed first,” said Russell.

This latest news on the bond issue has also raised questions about the future locations of  these new campuses should voters say yes. For years, Navarro campuses have operated in a web of facilities in Geronimo at the corner of Link Road and State Highway 123 North. Russell adds that land negotiations for the proposed campuses are currently underway.

“For the high school, we’d like to keep it in the same vicinity because we do share coaches and we share some classes, and we know that as we get larger, we’ll have to bring those classes into the junior high, and we’ll have to get coaches for each building and not share. We are currently looking at land that is just less than a mile away. So we are looking there first. We also have some leads on some land that is north. Now, for the second elementary, it wouldn’t make sense to build it right there next to the first elementary, so we would need to go outside of that little compound area to build the second elementary. We have some options. There are 1,6000 homes going in near Rudeloff Road — Huber and Rudeloff. And those are going to be 4 or 5 years out, but 1,300 of those homes will be in our district Navarro ISD. And then there’s also 1,400 homes going out on 123 near the Grain Bin, and so that’s another location that we can look at putting an elementary school,” said Russell.

Also on the minds of taxpayers is the financial impact of these potential bond projects.

“For a home that is $250,000, an average home price, the taxes because everyone wants to know what this is going to cost me so the taxes would be $48.75 a month more which is about the cost that it would be for a family of four to go out and eat one night of a month. Total it would be an increase of $585 for a $250,000 home. We are currently at 24 cents on our I&S and we will have to go up to the 50 cent mark of our I&S. That is exactly where it would be the same taxes as the community — anybody that lived in the community in 2014-2015 — that was what the tax rate was and we’ve been able to lower that tax rate through the years, pay off some debt and lower that tax rate.” 

“So, we are going back up to that and then we will do everything we can to begin to lower the tax rate again,” said Russell.

Russell adds that the proposed facilities such as the high school will do more than just provide the elbow room that is needed. She says the construction of a new campus will not only grow current programs but provide students with that extra jumpstart into the futures.

“Right now, we’ve done some programming and planning with the committee and we will be able to have our regular classrooms but then also a performing arts center where it is a nice auditorium to seat about 750 so the community could use it for community events as well. There’s also the CTE which is the Career and Technology building. We’ll have a wing where we will include a welding lab. Right now, construction trades is huge in this area with all the homes going up so we would like to tap into that and help some of our kids get certifications in that area so we will have a lab for that. Of course, we have our CNA lab for our nursing students. We will have (for) agriculture — we are looking at the possibility of building a small show arena there on the site as well so it’s exciting to see all the things that we can encompass into a high school that we could bring the community in and have it a true community center,” said Russell.

Russell says the growth that surrounds them is what is truly leading the district in its decision to purse the multi-million dollar bond issue. She says the district can not afford to sit still.

“The growth is coming. If you drive down on Cordova Road off of 123, any of those areas off of Highway 46, you see those houses coming up. This year alone, we had more students and parents bringing in contracts, houses aren’t’ done but they have contracts on their houses so we know the growth is here and it’s not going to stop. Anytime soon. We are feeling it already with just this year’s enrollment. The high school is already at it’s capacity. We have over 650 students in the high school right now. So, we are getting pretty creative with our spaces. We are going to be good stewards of taxpayer money and we are going to build the best facilities for our students so that they can leave prepared for either college or for the workforce — wherever they choose they want to be, we are going to support them through our academic courses that we have and then being able to offer some enrichment courses along the way just helps make a well rounded student that will go out and be productive in society,” said Russell.

Russell says should the bond issue fail, then the district will have no choice but to bring in plenty of portable buildings to accommodate the growing student population.

The proposed high school alone is estimated at 90-million dollars. The second elementary school is estimated at a cost of  35 to 40 million dollars.

The last time voters headed to the polls in Navarro was during 2014-2015. That’s when the district was given the green light to build its Intermediate campus along with making other facility upgrades throughout the district.

District officials say they will continue to inform voters on the two propositions. They say information will also be made available on the district’s website.