AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — Voters in Amarillo ISD will decide on four separate bond propositions on Saturday in the May 7 special election, with a total price tag of $285.9 million if all are approved.
The largest chunk of funding would come from Prop. A, which would cost $180.6 million. It includes replacing Austin Middle School, which would cost $65.7 million, as well as funds for improvements at schools throughout the district.
David Nance, the Amarillo ISD Board of Trustees president, said the process to get these bonds in front of voters started last summer.
“Last September, October, we noticed some damage underneath the foundation of Austin Middle School,” said Nance. “So the Facilities Committee looked at it, whether we needed to replace it or repair it. And the Facilities Committee recommended that we go ahead and replace it.”
Nance said the cost to repair the school would have been $25 million but it would come with disruptions for students for two to three years.
“We’d have to move in a tremendous amount of portables to continue to educate our children here,” said Nance.
While AISD said the school is safe for students, Nance said some sections are closed off to them.
“They have parts of it that are roped off because they simply can’t access it. Because it’s not safe if they do,” said Carmen Fenton, the co-chair for the Amarillo Kids First PAC. “We have to rebuild that school. I think that’s—that has to happen.”
Fenton said voters should support Prop. A, which has been their main message.
“I think a good community has to continually invest in their schools and that’s an investment I’m willing to make,” she said.
Prop. A also includes increased safety at elementary and middle schools, as well as tech upgrades throughout the district.
“We will create secure environments for our middle schools. We will have perimeter fencing for a lot of our elementary schools. Right now we’re adjacent to a lot of city parks, a lot of public streets and highways, things that nature,” said Nance.
AISD would also add fund arts facilities to high schools and middle schools with funds from Prop. A.
But there is plenty of opposition, including James Schenck, who is against all four bonds.
Click here to see information from Save Amarillo PAC, which is also against the bonds.
“The amount of the school bond is way too much. They need to, we need to vote them all four down and we need to let them go back to the drawing board and bring us more reasonable bond proposals that help take care of some of these hot buttons, these hotspots,” Schenck said.
Schenck said he would have preferred a cheaper option, especially for Austin Middle School.
“What they’re trying to get you to do with that bond is is a pretty large amount of things that need to be brought at different times, not all at once,” said Schenck.
When asked what AISD will do if Prop. A fails, Nance said, “We would just have to go back to the drawing board and see, see what else we’ve got to do as far as addressing these needs, but Austin Middle School’s an immediate need.”
If voters approve Prop. A, AISD said property taxes for the average home in AISD, valued at $165,000, would increase by $8.54 a month or $102.48 a year.
