Local Elections

By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer

Voters get their last chance Tuesday to cast ballots for or against the $124.9 million Tyler ISD bond election. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

If the TISD bond election passes, six schools would be replaced -- Clarkston, Griffin, Jones, Orr, Woods and the St. Louis School for students with special needs. The district is considering building Jones and the St. Louis School as a joint facility if the bond passes.

The average age of these school buildings is 49 years old, with Jones and Woods at the high end at 52 years old and Orr at the younger end at 46. And they include anywhere from seven to 20 portable buildings. More than 60 portables would be eliminated from these schools if the bond passes.

Officials cite lack of space, the large number of portable classrooms on campuses as well as safety and security concerns as some of the facility challenges at these schools.

"We're just excited to finally be there and looking forward to hearing what the voters have to say," TISD Superintendent Dr. Randy Reid said of the fast-approaching Election Day. "If they give us the nod, we'll get busy right away."

If a bond issue were to pass, officials have said the district would like to see as many of these schools open in the fall of 2010 as possible, but the acquisition of land and design challenges may require an extra year for some projects. The district will need new land for Griffin as well as a possible Jones/St. Louis joint facility.

Voters will pay for the new schools in increased taxes if the bond election passes.

The owner of a home valued at $135,000, with a $15,000 homestead exemption, would pay an extra almost $200 in taxes a year in 2009-10, when the debt service tax rate would peak at 34.977 cents. The average home value for TISD for 2008-09 is $131,048.

If the election passes, in 2009-10, the debt service rate would go from 18.53 cents to 34.977 cents, but would drop by 6.708 cents to 28.269 cents in 2011 and continue to drop because of a reduction in debt on the 2004 bond and an estimated increase in property values of 5 percent annually, according to TISD. There would be no effect in fiscal year 2008-09.

Board President Ron Vickery said Thursday after the Tyler ISD Foundation luncheon that he continues to feel confident about the bond election.

"Every time I'm in community groups like this, I'm just reinforced of the commitment of our local citizens to support public education in Tyler," Vickery said. "I know it's a difficult time, but I feel that our community is bright enough and confident enough in what they're investing in that I'm just excited about the results on Tuesday."

He called the large early voting turnout "exciting."

"That's what we all want is for people to get out and vote their heart and vote their passion," he said.

The 2008 bond election, also considered Phase 2, proposes to continue the work of the district's master facilities plan that was started in 2004 with the passage of a Phase 1 bond, which built seven new elementary schools. The development of that plan came after a failed bond election in 2002.

Phase 1, a $96 million bond program, included construction of Bell, Ramey, Douglas, Austin, Bonner and Peete elementary schools -- and one new campus, Jack Elementary. Peete, the last of the seven to be finished, opened in January.

According to TISD, Phase 1 school construction started on time and was completed on time and under budget. Those schools saw a decrease in energy consumption, increased security/safety measures and improvement on Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) scores, according to the school district.

More than 80 portable buildings were removed from schools included in Phase 1.

"The school district did a great job with the bond money in 2004, bringing those projects in under budget and on time. I think it's very important that we continue with Phase 2 to continue to improve our public education system in our community," said state Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, who is co-chair of the Vote Yes committee that is supporting the 2008 TISD bond. "I would just hope that the voters would look at the merits of this proposal and vote yes."

Eltife said by phone that he is excited about the "overwhelming turnout" so far at the polls.

"I think it's great any time we can get people to get out and vote no matter who they are voting for or how they're voting on the bond issues," he said. "It's just very important that people exercise their right to vote. I'm hopeful that people who will look at the merits of this school bond proposal and realize the need we have in this community, I'm hopeful they will vote yes."

At that Tyler ISD Foundation luncheon on Thursday, former Mayor Joey Seeber, who is also co-chairing this year's Vote Yes committee, urged those there to spread the word to "vote yes." Seeber and Eltife also co-chaired the Vote Yes committee that supported the 2004 bond.

"It's important that we pass this bond election, that this election is successful for our community. I want you to think about for a second what it would be like if it didn't succeed," Seeber asked the foundation crowd. "We've been through that. We don't want to go through that again. The district, the leadership of the district, the teachers have all done a great job � in the last few years."

Seeber added, "The last bond was on time, under budget. We have some beautiful schools. The neighborhoods around those schools are already better. The kids are doing better. We need to pass this on Tuesday."

No organized group has formed in opposition to the 2008 bond election.