Bond committee makes recommendation to school board

By Bob Buckel
The Community News

Aledo ISD’s Bearcat Growth Committee recommended a $149,950,000 bond issue to the school board Thursday evening, with no tax rate increase required to fund it.

The two-hour-plus presentation went over in detail the six projects on the committee’s list: building a new middle school for $62.5 million, renovating the existing Aledo Middle School for $33.4 million, building a new elementary school for $35.8 million, renovating McAnally Intermediate into an elementary school for $9.6 million, renovating Vandagriff Elementary into an early childhood campus for $1.7 million, and buying new furniture for Coder, Stuard and McCall elementaries for $1.8 million.

The total also includes $4,525,000 for land for future school sites, and $500,000 for buses.

The projects will expand the rapidly-growing district’s capacity at the elementary and middle school level by more than 2,000 students. The proposal also leaves nearly $8 million in unused bond capacity, allowing room for future bond issues as needed, and letting AISD continue to aggressively pay down debt to save interest costs.

Sixteen of the committee’s 38 members were on hand and took part in the presentation, outlining the process they have gone through over the past eight months to arrive at their recommendation. Board members thanked them for their work and applauded the grassroots, community-based process.

The proposal will be on the board’s agenda at their regular meeting Aug. 19, and they are expected to call an election at that time for Nov. 5.

More details on the Bearcat Growth Committee’s activities can be found in the Aug. 9 issue of The Community News.