By George Slaughter
The Katy Independent School District 2017 Community Bond Advisory Committee voted to recommend a bond proposal for an estimated $609 million Tuesday night.
The formal recommendation with the final figures will be submitted by June 28 to the Katy Independent School District Board of Trustees. The board will have until August to approve the proposal. If approved, the bond will be put to voters in the November 7 election.
No tax increase will come about because of the bond. Had the recommendation been in the range of $680 million, a tax increase would have become necessary, a district official said.
The committee’s recommendation follows seven meetings which began in April. At these meetings, members were briefed on various district and education-related topics.
To make the recommendations Tuesday night, members were randomly seated at 16 tables at the Katy ISD Education Support Complex, 6301 S. Stadium Lane. Each table voted on each of the 56 proposed projects. Katy ISD Superintendent Dr. Lance Hindt said a project had to receive 80% of the votes from the entire committee to be put on the recommendation list.
In making recommendations, Hindt urged the members to think about what they felt was in the best interest of the school district.
Had decisions not been made on each project, the committee would have held another meeting next week, and possibly the following week.
Projects were classified as Priority 1, Priority 2, or Priority 3. Priority 1 projects need to be addressed in the next three years, 2018-20. Priority 2 projects need to be addressed over the next five years, 2018-2023. Priority 3 projects need to be addressed in the next 10 years.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the committee approved all Priority 1 projects and rejected Priority 2 and Priority 3 projects. Rejected proposals can be revisited in the future.
Projects that received approval are:
New facilities:
- Elementary #41, for $19 million.
- Elementary #42, for $33 million.
- Elementary #43, for $35.7 million.
- Junior high school #16, for $54.9 million.
- Junior high school #17, for $65.6 million.
- High school #9 with district natatorium seating, for $206 million.
- Property acquisition in anticipation of a 2020 bond, $18 million.
- New portables, for $1.375 million.
Existing facilities:
- Infrastructure, for $16.4 million.
- Fielder Elementary School renovation, $20.9 million.
- Katy High School – CTE area renovation, $8.1 million.
- Raines High School and Behavior Transition Program facility, $7.3 million.
- Cinco Ranch High School kitchen, $1.3 million.
- Cinco Ranch Junior High School kitchen, $2.8 million.
- Career and Technology Education Support Space for floral design, $404,242.
- Mayde Creek Elementary and Mayde Creek Junior High foundation work, $1.2 million.
- Chiller replacements and controls, $11.2 million.
- Domestic boiler and replacements and upgrades, $847,000.
- Controls, $7.1 million.
- Flooring replacement, $6.5 million.
- Roof replacements, $8 million.
- Interior and exterior light retrofits, $4.8 million.
- Athletic surface replacements, $5.6 million.
- Competition gym components, $925,000.
- Natatorium components and renovations, $1 million.
Safety and security:
- Access control, for $3 million.
- Security system retrofit, for $1.4 million.
- Police, for $605,000.
- Elevator refurbishments, for $334,000.
- Fencing and gates, for $721,000.
- Emergency generator and fire alarm, for $3.8 million.
- Renovations at the Outdoor Learning Center, $46.9 million.
Technology:
- Campus technology retrofit and upgrades, for $22.6 million.
- Technology infrastructure, for $9 million.
Transportation:
- Gas tanks, for $4.9 million.
- Buses, for $17.6 million.
Trustees in January approved a committee charter and encouraged applications. The 150-member committee is comprised of a broad base of community members representative of Katy ISD campuses, partner institutions, professional and civic organizations and the community at large.
Some members had served on previous bond committees, but Hindt said that the majority of members were serving for the first time.
Hindt said that members have been very diligent and astute throughout the process.
“I’m very pleased with the committee,” he said. “They’ve done their homework.”
Hindt said members would be serving as “cheerleaders” when the bond election is set because they will be helping to educate their neighbors about the bond and what is included with it.
For a complete list of proposed projects, see the Katy ISD web site.