$776.7 Million LISD Bond Proposed

The Lewisville school board on Wednesday called for a $776.7 million bond proposal to be placed on the May 10 ballot.

Trustees agreed to propose a $697.7 million package of new schools and athletic facilities, campus expansion and renovation projects, technology upgrades and land purchases. The board voted 4-3 to include a $79 million event center under a separate ballot proposition.

“We are a school district, not an entertainment entity, and I don’t see how it fits into our educational goals,” said Trustee Amber Fulton, who voted against proposing the center.

Trustees Carol Kyer and Tom Ferguson also dissented, citing potential costs to operate a 191,000-square-foot center. By law, those costs may not be paid with bond money.

“In the future, we would have to worry about supporting something with money that we could spend on programs,” Kyer said.

But Board President Fred Placke said the center would make the district and students “more well-rounded” by offering an auditorium of up to 8,000 seats for school plays, band concerts and graduation ceremonies.

Many of those events are held in smaller campus auditoriums. Graduation ceremonies are held at the University of North Texas in Denton.

“It will be an enhancement to the good facilities we already have,” Placke said.

The center and other building projects would be finished in six years, when the nearly 50,000-student district is expected to reach build out.

Flower Mound schools would get at least $144.3 million, which includes $113.6 million for two ninth-grade campuses, $27 million for a 9,000-seat stadium at Marcus High School and $3.5 million to expand locker rooms at Flower Mound High School.

In addition, $3.8 million is earmarked for renovation of choir and drama rooms at Marcus and two other high schools.

The bond would require annual tax increases. The district levies 33 cents per $100 in valuation to pay off debt, which would rise to 36.75 cents in 2010 and 45.86 cents in 2014.

The increase would cost the owner of an average $246,834 home in Flower Mound an additional $93 in taxes in 2010.

*Article courtesy of the Flower Mound Messenger