With election day for Ector County ISD’s proposed $398 million bond coming up Saturday, Superintendent Scott Muri aimed to clarify the location of the proposed high school and how students from other districts are paid for.
During his media call Wednesday, Muri also talked about some good academic news on the Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) tests, although he didn’t offer specifics. The results will be presented to the ECISD Board of Trustees at a June workshop, he said.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday.
Proposition A for $215,255,000 would include:
>> Maintenance & life-cycle repairs/replacement for school district buildings ($130,255,000). This would be various projects for electrical, mechanical, plumbing, fire and life safety, and others at schools and auxiliary buildings.
It also includes construction of a new $70 million Career and Technical Education Center which would include classroom and lab space for programs like welding, construction, health science, automation and process technology, HVAC, plumbing and others; estimated at 150,000 square feet; includes furniture, fixtures, and equipment.
Classroom technology upgrades for $15 million would include classroom and/or campus audio, visual and multimedia refresh or additions.
Proposition B for $183,000,000 would be for a new comprehensive high school designed for 2,500 to 2,800 students. It would cover an estimated 400,000 square feet and include furniture, fixtures and equipment and be located on 100 acres at Yukon and Faudree roads that the district purchased in 2015 for a little more than $2 million.
Ector County Appraisal District Chief Appraiser Anita Campbell said in an email last week that the appraised value of the land ECISD purchased in 2015 at Yukon and Faudree roads where the proposed high school would go
In 2016, rural land values in that area ranged from $250 per acre to $27,878 per acre, depending on tract size, Campbell wrote. Two-hundred-and-fifty ($250) per acre was market value for large tracts receiving agricultural productivity special-use appraisal value at $7 per acre, she detailed.
The tract the district purchased was at $250 per acre, as it was part of a much larger (636 acres) tract. Current values in that area range from $6,380 per acre to $157,250 per acre, depending on size and use, she wrote.
A new high school would also relieve overcrowding at Permian and Odessa high schools, which each have about 4,000 students.
The ECISD website says district leaders anticipate this bond will create a tax rate increase of 15-cents and, for a home with a taxable value of $100,000, would equate to a tax increase of approximately $12 per month. There would be no tax increase on residence homesteads for taxpayers 65 and older, as state law dictates that the tax rate and the amount paid, on a residence, are frozen when that person turns 65 years old, applies for the exemption and is approved by the Ector County Appraisal District. ECISD gives local taxpayers a 20% Homestead Exemption, which is the maximum allowed by law.
The bond committee and school board recognized the need for two high schools and initially proposed that.
“… But when we spoke with our community and conducted a survey of 1,000 registered voters the survey was really clear the dollar amount on the bond needed to remain below $400 million,” Muri said. “And because of that, we had to take that request for two high schools down to only one high school. The decision was made to use a philosophy of worst is first.”
“The area of our community that is experiencing the greatest population growth, specifically in the area of children that would attend the school, is in the northeast part of our community and … so the recommendation was made and the board decided to build one high school and that is in the northeast corner of our community,” Muri said.
However, trustees and the bond committee recognized the need for two high schools — one in the southwest area of the county and another in the northeast.
“We anticipate offering up to our community a second high school in the not so distant future as we consider our next bond. Our goal is to be on a five-year bond cycle. As a community every five years we would present a bond to … so (in) the next five years our community should anticipate seeing another bond that will once again address the capital expenditure needs of ECISD,” Muri said.
As a school system, he added, they need to meet with voters on a regular basis to share district needs.
“… We have not done that as a school system for the last 20 or 30 years. Our bonds have been very reactionary and so we must help our community … understand that we must invest in the capital needs … of our school system on a regular basis,” Muri said.
When a student attends ECISD from another school district using the transfer process, he said, the money follows the child.
“… The money for that child, which is approximately $9,100, is provided by the state of Texas. We receive those dollars and invest those dollars in that child. So once again, the full amount to pay for a child to attend school in ECISD is provided by our state. We simply let the state know that another student from another district has entered our school district and then we basically build a space for that student …,” Muri said.
Muri also announced that MAP data in a quick analysis tells ECISD that “we for the first time have closed academic gaps in both reading and mathematics in all grade areas kindergarten through eighth grade.”
“That’s great news for our kids and outstanding news for our teachers as we honor our teachers this week. This is Teacher Appreciation Week in the United States and we celebrate and lift up those teachers that invest deeply in the lives of our students. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate and honor our teachers than by sharing evidence today that with our community of the significant work that our teachers are doing,” Muri said.
“… The data that we released today is exciting and is clear evidence that the work the 2,000 teachers we have in ECISD (do) is absolutely making a difference in the student growth and academic achievement of our kids,” he added.
