CISD launches bond planning committee
Walter P. Jett Teacher Training Center (Conroe ISD)
February 25, 2023 | Conroe, TX
Conroe ISD officially launched its Bond Planning Committee (BPC) on Feb. 2 at the Jett Center, the district’s $15.5 million teacher training facility. According to CISD, the purpose of the committee, which is to hold 10 slated meetings over the next six months, “is to study facility and capital needs and determine if a bond referendum is needed. If needed, the BPC will work to develop a package to put before the school board, then the voters.”
Of the more than 160-member committee, 132 are CISD residents. Included in the 160 are six students and 59 CISD employees. Participants on the committee are delving into all aspects of a potential bond including: school finance 101, marketplace and construction costs, financial capacity of the bond, new construction costs, land surveys, renovations of campuses, safety and security, transportation, and infrastructure including technology. At each meeting the district provides this information intended to inform the committee on what they perceive the district’s future needs are (what projects to include) and amount of bonds for the electorate to vote upon, which is currently projected to be around $1.7B.
Growth projections
As the Montgomery County population continues to grow, the district believes projections presented by PASA (Population and Survey Analysts, www.pasatx.com) will be surpassed, given previous PASA projections have been exceeded. In addition, several impending housing developments throughout Montgomery County will house school-aged children.
Data was provided by the district showing several over-capacity or soon to be over-capacity campuses, specifically in the Conroe HS and Caney Creek HS feeder zones. However, a few schools had been left off the list of neighboring over-capacity schools. Hines Elementary in the Grand Oaks Feeder zone, Bartlett Elementary in the Conroe HS feeder, and Veterans Memorial Intermediate in the Caney Creek feeder were not included in the capacity charts given by the district. Responding to the difference in the 2019 capacity rates compared to today’s, the district says new and different programs offered at the schools cause the capacity rates to change.
Rising school tax obligations
Although the district’s tax rate has seen a decrease of $0.16 in the last 4 years, appraisals in Montgomery County continue to rise, causing increased school taxes for the majority of residents in the county. Make no mistake, when school bonds are approved and issued, the taxpayers fund it.
Committee member Charles Shirley stated, “I understand the needs of CISD, but we should be honest about what a school bond means. If we vote for a comparatively small bond of $1 billion or go all in and vote for a whopper of $1.8 billion, then we are adding a liability to the balance sheet of CISD, creating a long-term debt service obligation of CISD, and we are creating an encumbrance to the real estate of every taxpayer in CISD. We will be voting to add to every property owner’s tax obligation, whether there is a tax rate increase or not. We all know that, under the Texas tax system, the tax appraisal of our property is where we get hit with higher taxes. Tax rates are adjusted lower all the time and every year most Texas taxpayers’ total tax amount goes up.”
With inflation on the rise, and a recession looming if not already occurring, taxpayers are feeling the pinch. While it cannot be denied that the Montgomery County population is growing, it is incumbent upon the district to utilize its resources wisely, but also important for citizens to keep an eye on approaching sources of taxation that could take away from their bottom line.
One of the stated missions of the Republican Party of Texas is lowering taxes. We will be following this issue closely. More information on the Bond Planning Committee can be found at conroeisd.net/bond-planning-committee.