(Marion) – The continued rising cost of just about everything that it takes to build a school is reportedly what has the Marion ISD going back to voters this May 6 for school buildings that it says are desperately needed. This will mark the district’s third attempt at passing a multi-million-dollar facilities bond issue. The last two bonds held in May and November 2022 did not gain voter approval.
Helping to garner that support this time around is Marion ISD Superintendent Dr. Don Beck. Beck recently shared details behind the $78.8 million bond issue with Darren Dunn, KWED and Seguin Daily News General Manager. The two discussed the details of the bond during a segment of Seguin Radio KWED’s Saturday Topic Program. Appearing as a guest on the talk show was just one of the many ways that Beck wanted to ensure that voters had the facts behind this upcoming election. If you ask Beck, he believes he failed to successfully communicate those details to voters during the last two elections and is ready to outline the urgency for these facilities this time around.
Topping that outline is safety. Beck says safety has indeed become the number one issue for the bond.
“I tell people all the time that there may only be 1,800 in my care but I have to go to bed each night knowing that I have to keep those 1,800 staff and students safe and that’s not an easy thing but I’ve got to do everything in my power to have that happen and so through this safety discussion and this bond, ultimately we have on there I think $12.8 million set aside for safety but if you really look at the whole package, about $60 million of it is really related to safety because we talk about career and technical education and such but we have to get our kids into one building if we can at the high school. We currently have a shared cafeteria that the junior high and high school have and part of this project would be to connect that cafeteria to the high school because just like in most small towns, the kids walk to different places outside of buildings and such and so our hope is to get these buildings under one roof. Yes, it’s going have the typical things when you look at safety — the vestibules, the locks, the video cameras,” said Beck.
New and upgraded space for its CTE (Career Technical Education) courses is also on top of the district’s list. Beck says the district simply wants to give kids the best options as they prepare for their future. He says making that difficult are the CTE facilities in Marion that are well over 35 years. He says unfortunately, these classrooms and equipment have not changed – still making them ideal for careers in the 80s and 90s.
“So, when you are looking at our welding lab. That building was built in 1971, I believe, and so we would like to get some more ventilation, different things in there, the different equipment for our kids to utilize. The construction lab that we have is really tiny – trying to make that a little bit larger too as we grow. The health science (building) is just in a couple of classrooms, and we’d like to get them into more of a health science kind of career set up there. Our culinary class is an old home ec(onomics) lab. You know culinary and how that is and the kitchens that are needed for kids to be successful in a true kitchen out there and then to provide for expansion in the future. There are things such automotive that we’d love to be able to start too. But being so small, we can’t throw everything out there to all the kids at once. It just doesn’t make sense fiscally for everybody here. So, we have to work with Northeast Lakeview — places like that to help us with other outlets that they may need,” said Beck.
The entire overhaul of Marion High School also remains a vital component of Marion ISD’s bond election.
Beck says not much has been done to update the 1985 school building. He says not only does it have a small library and no life skills classrooms but it also needs a total upgrade of its infrastructure.
“We are looking at revamping a few of the art rooms because the art room is actually outside currently but ultimately, the biggest thing about the renovation that we are going to be looking at is plumbing and HVAC repair. The plumbing underneath the high school actually had fallen a few months ago and it broke the pipe in half, and we had to fix it and get the water to stop leaking under there, so we have it fixed for the time being but it’s a big investment to go in there and replace all that copper tubing underneath that high school. We have similar issues over at our Krueger/Karrer Campus. Their plumbing is a big issue. The other thing is I believe half of our HVAC units are over 20 years old, so they are also needing to be replaced. So, between HVAC and plumbing, that’s right about $3 million of the cost that is tied into that,” said Beck.
Beck is also making sure that voters clearly understand how this proposed bond issue is different than the two previous ones. He says the most important thing to note is that it includes a new competition gym.
“In the previous bond, it wasn’t in there, the one in November. We were trying to keep it a zero-cent bond at the time, and we spent so much time trying to explain why it was zero cents that we lost track of why we were doing the bond. Looking at that, we figured we need to look at all the needs that the committee brought forth and one of them was a gym, a competition gym and ultimately, when you look at the connection piece between the gym, what is vitally important is the locker room space as well as the weight room — the weight room we have now is not (adequate). We have so many kids that go through there. Our athletics is actually two and a half times larger now than it was back in 1985-86. So, you can imagine the weight room trying to fit every junior high kid which the number of kids participating has blown up as well as the high school. We need a big, larger area for our kids to utilize that, “said Beck.
Beck adds that the upgraded athletic facilities that were approved by voters in past years has helped to make Marion High School a destination for other schools and organizations to host sporting events. He says improvements included the upgrade to its football stadium and the addition of voter approved baseball and softball fields equipped with a turf field.
However, the one area that remains inadequate is the gym.
“Once again, the community in the past did a great job of investing in their kids. We are kind of like a light house for some people around here when it comes to using the facilities and so, the competition gym– when you are looking at volleyball — the balls are hitting the ceiling all the time. To replace the goals, it’s expensive. People don’t realize they don’t work. Really, truly, we are full at basketball games. We have to put a little dividing line down the center of the stands to be able to keep fans separated. So, looking at all that, that total package and just the cost that it’s going to be moving forward, the board figured now is the time to go for it. It just provides us more opportunities for our kids to share spaces between cheerleaders, dancers, and all of our basketball teams during that time. It’s just great for our kiddos,” said Beck.
Unlike last year when the district was proposing a zero-cent increase, this bond package will impact the tax rate. He says the financial impact, although minimal, will ensure that the district’s needs are met for the next few years and that it addresses the gym as one of its significant needs.
“On a $300,000 home, you are looking at about a $14.08 tax increase. In looking at that too because of the growth that is going to be coming our way, our financial advisor says it’s probably a two-year piece where it’s going to be $14.08 and then after that, it kind of starts to taper down based on whether it’s property growth which is what we are going to have a lot of here in the future or just appraisals. But looking at that, $14.08 per $300,000 home is what we are putting out there and that’s what our advisor told us would be the cost for the average homeowner,” said Beck.
Again, Beck asks that voters educate themselves on the facts behind this bond issue. He says the growing district can no longer wait for or make do with what they currently have.
“My job is to communicate it and if the community ends up voting one way or the other, I want to make sure it’s an educated vote and not one of those that they just read a line on there that says, ‘this is a tax increase’ and vote no and not know what they are voting no for. When they are voting no, they are voting no for security. When they are voting no, they are voting no for CTE. When they are voting no, they are voting no for building renovations, things like that and so if we can educate them on what the no is for, then I can go to bed at night saying I’ve communicated it to everybody,” said Beck.
Tuesday is the last day to vote early in the Marion ISD and City of Santa Clara Joint Election or in any other May 6 race in Guadalupe County. Those races include Seguin ISD, San Marcos CISD (Guadalupe County portion), City of Cibolo, District 5 City of Santa Clara, Lake McQueeney Water Control Improvement District and Lake Placid WCID.
Marion ISD voters may cast their ballots today and Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election office hours only on Tuesday will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Polling locations include the Marion ISD Tondre Room, Santa Clara City Hall, the New Berlin City Hall or at the Guadalupe County Elections Office.