The El Paso Independent School District Board of Trustees opted Tuesday night to wait until next year to decide whether to ask voters to approve a bond proposal of up to half-a-billion-dollars to upgrade air conditioners and make improvements throughout its campuses.
In a unanimous vote, trustees voted to postpone the item calling for a bond election in November.
During the meeting, EPISD’s Citizens Bond Steering Committee recommended waiting until May 2027 to hold a $445.8 million bond election after resident survey results showed there wasn’t enough support for it. The committee is made of parents, local residents and school employees.
“We just saw that the voter sentiment wasn’t there, and if that data tells us it’s not there, I don’t think it would behoove us to go forward for a November election,” committee Chair Georgina Williams said.
The deadline to call for a bond election in May 2027 is in February.
The committee did not give details on what schools would get improvements under the bond, but replacing outdated heating and cooling systems was among their top priorities as students and teachers across the district deal with sweltering classrooms.
The committee identified its 15 “hottest” campuses with the most dire air conditioning needs, most of which were elementary schools. This includes Guillen Middle School, and Canyon Hills, Wiggs, Guerrero, Milam, Green, Kohlberg, Nixon, Lamar, Coldwell, Sunrise Mountain, Hillside, Polk, Park and Hawkins elementary schools.
Trustee Jack Loveridge told El Paso Matters before the meeting that the district may not have much of a chance to pass a bond after May if state lawmakers change the law preventing a bond from passing without a supermajority.
“I wish we had a better political climate, and I wish we had more political courage to put ourselves before the public in November and try it out,” Loveridge said.
During public comment, residents, parents and union members spoke in favor of a bond proposal, urging the board to address years of deferred maintenance needs and to upgrade air conditioning systems.
“Deferred maintenance should not be an afterthought. It is up to us, the EPISD community, to stop complaining about how things were run in the past and get out, be involved, and expect clear plans and solutions to the problems,” said El Paso Teacher Association Vice President Margaret Gallardo.
Scott Brown said he supported the bond, but the district does not have enough support to secure voter approval in November.
“The bond needs to happen, but cannot happen right now,” said Brown, who was an unsuccessful candidate earlier this week for appointment to a vacant school board seat. “Wait till November so that you can continue to send (Deputy Superintendent David) Bates around and (Superintendent Brian) Lusk and everybody else to get that trust back because right now you don’t have it.”
A bond election is among one of the major steps needed for EPISD to kickstart work on its $1 billion long-range master plan, designed to address the district’s needs and make desired improvements.
The board’s decision comes at a critical junction in the district’s history, as it’s faced recent leadership changes and a budget crisis that led the district to declare financial exigency and lay off employees earlier this year.
Last week, the board elected to appoint Matthew Reza and Brian Kelley to represent Districts 6 and 7, respectively, after Daniel Call and Valerie Ganelon Beals resigned in June.
With a decade having passed since the last bond proposal, district leaders say many of its over 70 campuses, more than 30 of which are over 60 years old, are in dire need of improvements.
EPISD posted a presentation to the meeting agenda with three different bond proposals, each with four propositions, ranging in cost from nearly $209 million to about $481 million.
The first option would have asked voters for $208.9 million, including $159.2 million under Proposition A to upgrade air conditioning, make safety and transportation improvements, and to renovate vacant properties.
The second option asked voters for $445.8 million and includes everything from Option 1, plus additional improvements that increase Proposition A to $396 million.
The third option asked voters for $480.8 million and included everything from the previous options, plus additional deferred maintenance costs.
All three options also included:
- Proposition B: $10.6 million for new technology for students
- Proposition C: $25.6 million for athletic stadium renovations
- Proposition D: $13.5 million to refinance the district’s debt
Under the first two options, EPISD planned to maintain a tax rate of $1.08 per $100 valuation, which could lead to increases in the district’s portion of some homeowners’ tax bills because property valuations usually rise from year to year.
The third option would have raised EPISD’s tax rate by one cent to $1.09 per $100 valuation.
Homeowners age 65 and older have their school taxes frozen and wouldn’t see an increase in their tax bill regardless of whether a bond passes.
The post El Paso ISD trustees postpone bond election until May 2027 appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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