The Fort Stockton Independent School District School Board officially approved the order of a bond election at a special meeting on Aug. 17 following a bond workshop that was designed for public feedback on Aug. 11.

Now, the school district is raising awareness for the need of bond funds and enlightening the public on the financial impact the passing of the bond could have on residents.

Fort Stockton ISD hosted a facilities planning meeting at the Butz campus on Aug. 31 in what is planned to be the first of many meetings at various campuses.

Superintendent Dr. Gabriel Zamora and Mike Rhodes, education consultant with Claycomb Associates, Architects gave attendees insight into the two bond proposition that will be on the November ballot before Butz Principal Omar Sanchez gave a tour of the facility.

“It’s one of the oldest campuses and if you have not heard, the Butz campus is recognized as a live campus for grades 3-12 in the Texas Education System,” Zamora said. “It was previously listed as under construction. The purpose of this campus is to hold accelerated instruction for students that may benefit from those type of services, even with the Texas Tech K-12 program that we’re instituting.”

Rhodes emphasized the importance of educating the public on the needs of the district and helping citizens see firsthand the upgrades that are needed.

In his initial walkthrough of the district, Rhodes noticed the need for a variety of upgrades the district needed.

“Ultimately, the goal of this process is to create awareness for your community. That’s one arm of this campaign, how do we inform the public?” Rhodes explained. “What are the condition of the campuses?”

Proposition A, which is worth up to $84 million, is designated for academic facilities and includes safety improvements districtwide. Proposition B, which is worth up to $16 million, would strictly be for athletic facility upgrades and additions.

Zamora explained that 84-16 split between the academic and athletic bond propositions shows the community the district’s priorities while also providing an important avenue to revamp athletic facilities in need.

“It’s pretty clear where our priorities are. If 84% of the money is being spent on academic facilities and only 16% is being spent to completely finish what we have to do on the athletic side, that’s pretty good. I think that’s fair and balanced,” he said.

With valuations and inflation on the rise, and the unknown financial landscape of values in the future, Zamora highlighted a common question surrounding the bond propositions – will taxes increase as indicated by mandatory language at the ballot box?

The superintendent noted that with the pay off of old bonds nearing and the option to not use bond money if values plummet, the district is in a position to not raise the tax rate as stated previously by the Fort Stockton ISD School Board.

“We are very close to paying off the remaining debt we have in the district. If we succeed and move forward with a new bond, the monies we have been using to pay the old bonds off can carry over and thus the promise and the stand the school board has taken of saying that the tax rate will not go up,” Zamora said.

“One thing that we said when the proposition comes out, it states up to $84 million and states up to $16 million at the very start of both of those. We want to clarify that we would only draw the money that the district is able to draw without ever raising the tax rate. What I mean by that is if for some reason if the property values were to plummet, we don’t have to pull the money.”

The district’s next planned facilities meeting, which is open to the public, is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 20 at Apache Elementary.

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