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Growing Alvin ISD seeks bonds
Published October 26, 2009
MANVEL — Growth has been so intense in Alvin ISD that a portion of a trustees meeting two weeks ago was devoted to buying land for a future high school, a future elementary school and musical instruments for a growing junior high.
The district is seeking $70 million in bonds during the general election Nov. 3 to build an elementary school and a middle school, to replace Mark Twain Elementary and to purchase land and pay for design work for the district’s third high school and 15th elementary school.
Early voting ends Friday.
The money would be part of a $112 million package, with $42 million coming from previously approved bonds.
District officials said the money is needed to accommodate an overwhelming increase in students, especially in areas west of Highway 288. Campuses in that area are growing at 12 percent a year, Deputy Superintendent Tommy King said.
“The progression is scary,” he said.
Opponents of the bond issue said the district should wait to build because even though the district is growing, it might not always be that way. Given the recent slump in the economy, growth soon could slow, Manvel resident Larry Akery said.
“The economy is nothing but a major circle,” Akery said. “It can’t just keep going straight up.”
SAVING ON SPENDING
If approved, the bond issue would raise the average property owner’s taxes by about $92 a year, according to the district. The bond issue is projected to raise the district’s tax rate about 6.6 cents per $100 value of appraised property value, officials have said.
But when the district sought a bond issue in 2005, it was projected to raise tax rates by about 11 cents per $100 of appraised property value. But the district’s tax base continued to grow, and by the time the bond money was spent, the tax rate never increased more than 5 cents per $100 of appraised property value, King said.
If Alvin ISD’s tax base continues to grow, the tax rate for the newest bond issue likely won’t increase more than 6 cents, he said.
None of that really matters, Alvin resident Bill Murphy said in an e-mail. He opposes the bond issue and said no matter how the district raises its tax rate to pay for the bonds, if property values go up, taxes go up.
“So, in reality, by accepting the increased property tax income, they have raised our taxes,” he said.
NEW DEAL
The district would use $91.6 million to fund the construction of new campuses and for land and design work for an elementary and high school campus, according to officials.
During last week’s meeting, trustees approved design elements for the district’s 14th elementary school, which will be built on a 15-acre site north of Broadway in the Shadow Creek Ranch subdivision.
Plans for Mark Twain’s replacement are not yet final.
“It would stay in the attendance zone area,” Alvin ISD spokeswoman Shirley Brothers said.
Plans for the high school and other campuses have not been completed, but the district is planning to close on a 70-acre site in Shadow Creek Ranch to build the third high school, King said.
The site would cost about $6.2 million, but the money would come from the tax increment reinvestment zone the district has in that area, Brothers said.
More than $20 million of the bond would be used for renovation, improving technology and purchasing buses for the district, officials said.
“Every school is included,” Brothers said.
The size of the bond issue is a problem because taxpayers will be spending too much money for things the district doesn’t need, opponents said.
Alvin resident Suzanne Dillmann said she opposes the bond issue because the district is not making good use of taxpayer dollars. If student growth requires a school west of Highway 288, then the district should find a spot for the campus that’s not in a developed area, she said.
“They went and bought the most expensive piece of land in Pearland,” Dillmann said.
STILL GROWING
Nolan Ryan Junior High, which opened just last school year, has portable buildings installed on the campus already to help deal with growing student enrollment. At last week’s meeting, the district approved the purchase of eight French horns because the band program is expanding.
“We would have liked to wait until December to work the eight French horns into the ‘12 Days of Christmas’ but we couldn’t wait,” Superintendent Robby McGowen said.
The district had its meeting in Manvel High School’s auditorium after the site’s grand opening.
Manvel High School originally was built to accommodate 2,500 students. Four years after it opened, there are 1,800 students at the campus, King said.
STAYING POSITVE
Economic conditions might make it difficult to get approval for the bond issue, King acknowledges.
“Student growth and economics don’t necessarily correlate,” he said.
Regardless, King said, the district is still growing.
Before the bond issue was approved by trustees, a community survey showed 55 percent of the district was in favor of the measure, King said.
The district’s last bond issue — in 2005 — passed overwhelmingly, Alvin ISD board President Pete Vincent said.
When asked what the district would do if the issue failed, Vincent focused on the positive: The measure might not pass by as wide a margin as in 2005, but the measure will pass, he said.
“We don’t talk about it not passing,” Vincent said.
Dillmann agrees the district is growing.
As a real estate agent, she knows more students are coming to the area.
“I see it,” she said of the growth. “I know what’s going on.”
But the district should be wiser in its spending and not buy expensive supplies like laptop computers, Dillmann said. That should be a parent’s responsibility, she said.
“We’re paying for every single thing they need,” she said.
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