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By Stephanie Flemmons, Staff Writer
Plano Independent School District officials are hopeful the largest bond issue in the district’s history will pass during the May 10 election.
Superintendent Doug Otto believes the $490 million bond covers aspects that will continue making PISD schools strong.
“I think strong communities need strong schools,” Otto said. “The quality of life is dependent on the kinds of services people get from their communities. In order to maintain equity around our district we have to make sure the students in our older schools have the same opportunities and access to technology and curriculum as the students in our newest schools. It keeps the neighborhoods vibrant.”
If passed, district officials estimate residents and businesses will see a possible $33-$45 tax increase, which Otto said is based on a moderate growth.
“Growth in Plano will stay fairly stagnant, but PISD also takes into account Murphy and Parker where a lot of growth is occurring,” Otto said. “We also have parts of North Dallas that are growing and we are seeing a lot of commercial growth on the Tollway and George Bush.”
Otto said district officials based the increase on the average home value of $257,000 and said it is a matter of what happens to the district’s assessed valuation.
“We based our estimate on very minimal property tax growth,” Otto said. “Because of the current economy, property values are not skyrocketing.”
Richard Matkin, PISD associate superintendent of business services, said the district based its number over the growth of the city the past eight years.
“We wanted to be conservative in our approach,” Matkin said. “There is going to be a small tax increase, but very low considering what we get for it.”
Senior citizens will be unaffected by the tax increase because their taxes are frozen, Otto added.
PISD staff members spent a year conducting a survey researching the curriculum and technology needs of the district. The Board of Trustees then formed a committee of business leaders, principals, citizens, teachers and PTA members who researched other needs of the district, which was recommended to the board.
If passed, the bond issue will include the construction of four new schools, renovations, additions, instructional capital improvements, departmental capital improvements and curriculum and technology capital improvements.
Otto believes these changes allow the district to spend funds as planned. He said during the last bond election no new schools were built, which gave this year’s bond a larger price tag.
Otto said 30 percent of the dollars in the general fund goes back to the state for “Robin Hood”, but when the district sells bonds they keep every dollar.
“Every dollar we levy on the general fund side we have to export 30 cents to the state as a part of recapture or Robin Hood,” Otto said. “When we sell bonds we keep every dollar. This is important because people confuse the Robin Hood part of funding, which could impact the bond sale. Allowing us to keep 100 percent of the dollars is a real blessing for us because it allows us to keep our bond rate low. We have the lowest debt service rate in Collin County.”
Matkin said PISD has the highest bond rating in the state besides Highland Park, which has no debt.
“The state backs school bonds with its own bond rating, which is Triple-A,” Matkin said. “PISD has an outstanding bond rating itself because of its low debt, which is AA-minus.”
District officials will stagger the projects throughout four years, which Matkin said levels out the districts debt payment.
“The bond issue is comprehensive,” Matkin said. “We have a very large district. We have a list of big construction and the major renovations, which are big ticket items.”
Matkin added the technology and small renovations will all touch essentially all the locations. “This is the reason it’s important to fund these out of bond initiatives,” he said.
Otto said the new schools’ construction will be started first because of the longer planning and construction time. The new schools are a combined $141 million.
The district plans to build a new high school on Murphy Road next to Kimbrough Stadium and another middle school that will be designed to relieve Murphy Middle School.
A new early childhood center will be built for the east cluster on Parker and San Gabriel, allowing the district to convert Barron Early Childhood Center back to an elementary school.
Otto said the only bond election Plano voters denied occurred in the early 1990s. He said money to build a third senior high was included, which a lot of people felt the district did not need.
“It turned out to be ironic because it set the opening of Plano West back one year,” Otto said. “When we finally got one passed Plano Senior High got to be 3,500-3,600 students with a graduating classes of 1,700-1,800 students.”
The bond proposal also includes $62.2 million to add to or expand the three senior high schools, Vines High School, Haggard Middle School, Forman Elementary School and the Guinn Center.
The district plans to renovate both Plano West and East’s cafeteria comparable to Plano Senior’s open-style option.
“At the senior high level we have an open lunch option allowing students to leave campus,” Ottos said. “We tried an experiment setting up more options at Plano Senior trying to keep the students on campus and give them more choices. It was a real success. We went from feeding 200 students to 1,200 overnight.”
The district also proposed the expansion of the science department, culinary arts and administrative offices at East and the expansion of fine arts for Plano Senior.
Other renovations will include increased classroom size, renovated libraries, hallways, administrative offices and nurse’s station.
Many schools will receive new heating and cooling systems, new security systems and new fire systems.
Since 2000, the legislature allows districts to purchase school buses with bond funds, rather tan out of the operating budget, which is subject to recapture.
PISD plans to purchase 60 buses over the next four years with the bond funds.
Early voting dates and times are May 1 8 a.m.-7 p.m. May 2-3 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and May 5-6 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
May 10 is Election Day. Voting is from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. at polling places by precinct assignments.
For more information on the bond proposal visit http//pisd.edu/2008bond or call 469-752-8010.
Contact Stephanie Flemmons at sflemmons@acnpapers.com
