BALMORHEA There are a lot of big doings in the Balmorhea Independent School District this summer.
Although the district had gotten a $75-million bond OK’d by 75 percent of the voters in 2018, construction on its array of new school facilities didn’t get going in earnest till about a year ago and they won’t be complete until approximately June 2023.
“The shutdown with the pandemic … had caused a bunch of issues with construction and getting started, so it took a long while to get started,” Superintendent John Massey said.
Reporting that the district has only sold $49 million of the bonds and is proceeding with that, he said, “We’re building a pre-k through 12 campus, a new football field, gym and all that stuff,” he added.
“We have the field and the track laid. The track still needs to be painted. Then the stands and lights need to go up.”
The architect is Claycomb Associates, which has offices in Dallas and Austin, and the contractor is Lee Lewis Construction of Lubbock.
Balmorhea has about 150 students in prekindergarten through 12th grade and about 39 staff members.
Since they have remaining bond funds, Massey said they are considering restoring things that were cut. The land values in the district are based on oil and minerals.
“… We’re looking to add those back as the values come back, so this summer we hope to put together some areas … we cut out — an ag classroom, an ag shop. We’re going to add that back. We’re going to add a parking lot back. We’re going to add some other things back to the overall program …,” Massey said.
The center portion of the current school was built in 1956. The building had been added on to some years ago, but the core of the building had never been touched.
The new school will sit on 76 acres and be all one building. They are replacing the football field, gym and playground for the young children and putting all new technology in the building.
“The infrastructure of our school is completely shot. Our plumbing lines are not good. Our electrical, we have issues with that,” Massey said.
They had a choice.
“It’s either pour a bunch of money into an old building that is not at the 21st century education level that we need for our students to succeed in the world, or … build new construction,” Massey said.
“We were very fortunate that a rancher donated the land where we’re going to put the school … so we didn’t have to purchase any land. We were able to build from pre-k all the way through 12. You get the whole school, not just a portion or a piece of it.”
This year, the district’s total tax rate will be approximately $1.38 per $100 valuation. The bond will bring the debt service rate to 49 cents per $100 valuation and the maintenance and operation rate, which Massey said hasn’t been set yet, will be reduced to 89 cents per $100 valuation.
For 2021, the total tax rate was $1.52 per $100 valuation. The interest and sinking rate was 49 cents per $100 because the bond passed in 2018 and design work had started. The maintenance and operation rate was $1.03.
“Our intent is to have a state-of-the-art school. We designed it so that we will have learning studios built in around our classrooms and we can have cooperative group learning. We can have in classroom learning. What we try to do is think toward the future of what our kids are going to look like when they go to the workforce, or when they go to college and what’s that going to look like. That’s the way we designed the school,” Massey said.
He added that the district was fortunate to be able to build the new school.
“Our values when I first got here five years ago … were at the $45-million value property value. Our values this year went to $1.1 billion. It’s gone from a very poor school district to having the money to be able to do something and provide back for our kids and our community. It’s something we’re excited about,” Massey said.
When he first arrived, Balmorhea was a property poor school district, so they were not subject to recapture under the “Robin Hood” system in which rich districts have to give part of their revenues to poor ones.
“This past year, we had to start paying recapture because our values caught up with us. So we’ll pay recapture this year and next year and for the foreseeable future,” he added.
This past year, they paid about $2.8 million and this year they are looking at about $5.5 million, Massey said. The M&O part goes for recapture, so that that will leave the district with $2.6 million for operations.
