General Bond Questions

The bond is based on our needs and commitment to Arlington students. A districtwide comprehensive assessment identified the district’s capital needs, and then the volunteer Capital Needs Steering Committee helped establish priorities through a formal recommendation to the Board. The majority of the bond is for facility improvements and replacements in keeping with the District’s commitment to protect its facility investments and provide modern, relevant and safe schools for our students. The District has many aging buildings that require significant maintenance and, in some cases, reconstruction.

Coupled with our facility needs is our commitment to give Arlington students a world-class education. Our goal is to ensure that each student will graduate from high school prepared for his or her college or career of choice. In keeping with this mission, the bond would provide improved learning spaces for full-day Pre-K, fine arts, career and technical education and athletics. It would also improve technology access for students and teachers, improve school security and provide transportation for students to the program of their choice.

The 2019 Bond was designed to build on the 2014 Bond program, align with the District’s strategic plan and improve access and equity for all students.

What can be funded through school bonds?

Texas law governs what revenue raised from school bonds may be used for. Texas Education Code §45.001(a)(1) says bonds may be issued for:

“(A) the construction, acquisition, and equipment of school buildings in the district;

(B) the acquisition of property or the refinancing of property financed under a contract entered under Subchapter A, Chapter 271, Local Government Code, regardless of whether payment obligations under the contract are due in the current year or a future

(D) the purchase of new school buses.”

What would be funded by the 2019 AISD Bond?

How was the 2019 Bond program developed?

AISD’s staff, together with consultant architects, engineers and facility planning consultants, conducted a thorough needs assessment of the entire district. This included a complete evaluation of building conditions, instructional priorities, enrollment trends, transportation, security, technology and more.

Then a 37-member Capital Needs Steering Committee, comprised of parents, teachers, principals, community members, business representatives and college and university representatives, was appointed by the Board of Trustees to evaluate and prioritize the district’s identified capital needs. Through a series of meetings, community dialogues and surveys, the committee reviewed and analyzed the district’s capital assessment and listened to the community’s priorities and questions. In June, the committee reported its findings to the AISD Board of Trustees and recommended the bond program to fund the priorities.

Would taxes go up?

NO tax rate increase would be needed for the proposed 2019 Bond program. In other words, the current Interest & Sinking tax rate, the rate that funds bond payments, is sufficient to cover the additional debt accrued by the proposed bond program.

The overall tax rate will actually go down next year. While the I&S rate will remain the same, the other part of the tax rate, the Maintenance & Operations rate, will go down by $0.07, whether the bond passes or not. This decrease is mandated by the state’s new legislation (HB3).

How long would it take to implement the bond?

Which schools would have projects funded by the bond?

Carter, Thornton, Berry and Webb Questions

Why would Carter Junior High and Berry, Thornton and Webb elementaries be torn down and reconstructed?

The average age of these schools is 61 years, and they all have significant condition needs. The AISD has determined that it will cost more to maintain them in the long term than to replace them. New facilities would be purposefully designed to provide relevant, modern, state-of-the-art learning spaces.

The reconstruction of Berry and Thornton is part of a larger overall plan to improve east Arlington elementary schools. East Arlington has a number of aged schools, along with some excess capacity. A master plan has been developed to upgrade facilities, putting more students in 21^st-century buildings, and to improve operational efficiency. Part of this master plan includes closing Roark and Knox, both old and underutilized schools, and rezoning their students. So, in other words, four existing east Arlington elementary buildings would be closed and replaced with two new, larger, comprehensive elementary facilities (a new Berry and a new Thornton). The entire area would be rezoned to match the new school footprint.

Berry, Thornton and Webb would be reconstructed on their current sites. Carter Junior High, however, would move. The site is undersized and erosion in the adjacent creek impedes site use. There is not room for a track around the football field or ample parking. The District proposes to rebuild Carter where Knox Elementary is currently located, a site that is more centrally located to the Carter student population and large enough to accommodate all program offerings.

Are these schools safe for our students and teachers?

When will these schools be torn down and rebuilt?

Knox and Roark Questions

Why would Knox and Roark be closed?

When would Knox and Roark close?

Where would the Knox and Roark students go to school?

What will happen to the Knox and Roark buildings?

Projects Questions

The 2014 Bond included money for condition needs at all AISD campuses. Why does the 2019 Bond include so much money for condition needs, too?

The 2014 Bond program addressed many condition needs throughout the district, but not all. In fact, some of the condition needs identified in the facilities assessment for the 2014 bond were prioritized to the next bond program. Maintaining the district’s 78 schools, plus many support buildings, is an ongoing process. The 2019 Bond would build on the 2014 Bond program and continue the process of maintaining and renovating the District’s facilities.

Maintaining a home is a good analogy. A homeowner does not renovate everything in the house and then wait 20 years to renovate anything again. The homeowner may need to replace a roof one year, kitchen appliances the next, and HVAC units the next. Schools are similar. A school building may need new HVAC equipment one year, but its roof is sufficient. Five years later, the roof might need to be replaced, but the HVAC units are still ok. Similarly, while one school in the district may need electrical renovations one year, another school may not, but instead that school needs work on something else.

The AISD built a new Career and Technical Center with the 2014 Bond. Why are career and tech renovations needed at the District’s high schools?

Introductory-level Career & Technical Education (CTE) courses are still taught at the high school campuses. Once completed, students move on to take upper-level courses at the new Dan Dipert Career + Technical Center. However, the District’s high schools do not all have the correct facilities to offer all introductory courses, and demand for these courses is growing. The 2019 Bond would provide renovations to Arlington, Bowie, Lamar and Seguin high schools to create welding, construction and/or culinary labs as needed. This would ensure access to these introductory-level CTE courses to all students at all AISD high schools.

Why do high school softball fields need to be renovated?

Currently, the District’s high schools only have practice softball fields. The high school softball teams all play their home games at the District’s softball complex next to Workman Junior High, resulting in schedule difficulties and conflicts. The 2019 Bond would renovate the practice fields into competition fields so that the softball teams could play their home games at their schools.

Why does the AISD need a new competition field?

Why do junior high fields need renovations?

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Bond 2019

$966 MILLION

• Facilities
• Fine Arts
• Safety, Security & Technology
• Transportation

Fine Arts

The fine arts portion includes: theater equipment and black boxes, instruments, visual arts equipment and work surfaces, piano replacements and uniforms for marching bands, drill teams and choirs.

Safety, Security & Tech

The safety, security and technology portion includes: additional security cameras and upgraded alarm systems, districtwide communications system upgrade, network infrastructure, device replacements and strategic 1:1 (student devices).

Transportation

The transportation portion of the bond includes new buses, shuttle buses, service vehicles. Also included are new vehicles and trailers for the Dan Dipert Career + Technical Center, the Agricultural Science Center, high school bands and security.

Facilities

The facilities portion includes: new construction, condition needs and life cycle improvements for all schools, new playgrounds at all elementary schools and facility upgrades for fine arts and athletics.