Posted 2:08 am Thursday, August 26, 2010
Brownsboro ISD Moves To Meet Facility Needs
By BETTY WATERS
Staff Writer
Brownsboro ISD serves about 200 square miles including the incorporated cities of Brownsboro, Chandler, Moore Station and Coffee City, as well as rural areas stretching from Lake Palestine to Lake Athens and up to Van Zandt County.
Staff Writer
Brownsboro ISD serves about 200 square miles including the incorporated cities of Brownsboro, Chandler, Moore Station and Coffee City, as well as rural areas stretching from Lake Palestine to Lake Athens and up to Van Zandt County.
The district managed to pay for facility improvements out of its fund balance for decades until now.
The school board, acting on recommendations from a community advisory committee, called an election Monday night for Nov. 2 on two proposals to meet major facility needs.
Proposition One would authorize the district to issue $27.26 million in bonds to finance construction of a replacement school for Brownsboro Elemen-tary, an addition and renovation of Chandler Elementary, plus electrical upgrades at the high school to accommodate computers and other technology.
Proposition Two would authorize $2.35 million in bonds for construction of a field house, weight room and dressing facilities at Brownsboro High School.
If voters approve the bonds for construction and renovation, the board and administrators plan to take advantage of current low interest rates to save an estimated $1 million in interest costs by refinancing existing debt.
Superintendent Elton Caldwell anticipates the district's tax rate for indebtedness would increase from 10 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to 30 to 32 cents.
Board President Bobby Teague said board members and administrators will be glad to explain the proposals to anyone.
Makeshift setups abound in Brownsboro and Chandler elementary schools. The schools are out of classrooms, a speech therapist operates in a closet and a counselor in a hallway.
Brownsboro Junior High students must walk across a street to reach several classrooms, which administrators consider a safety risk. Dressing rooms and restrooms for junior high boys' athletics and physical education are inadequate. There's only one urinal and one commode for football, track and baseball players.
The superintendent attributed facility needs to "steady growth" in enrollment over the past 20 years of 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 percent each year, except one year of flat enrollment and one year of about 5.25 percent growth.
"That's mounted up," Caldwell said, referring to an overall enrollment increase from 1,100 students about 20 years ago to about 2,870 for the 2010-11 school year.
The proposed 70,000-square-foot replacement school for Brownsboro Elementary would be built on a 50-acre tract that the district already owns slightly more than 1 mile west of town on Texas Highway 31.
It would free up the existing Brownsboro Elementary, adjacent to Brownsboro Junior High downtown, so that the junior high could be connected by a covered walkway and expand into the vacated elementary school.
The current facility for Brown-sboro Elementary School lies in a small, landlocked area with two portable classrooms and no space to expand.
The junior high has five portable classroom buildings and also uses 11 classrooms and a lab across the street from its main campus. "You take a gamble every time you take (students) across the street," Caldwell said, citing safety concerns. Inconvenience and inclement weather are other factors of concern, Assistant Superinten-dent Vicki York said.
Chandler Elementary has a shortage of classrooms and traffic congestion, but has considerable acreage surrounding the facility. The bond proposal would finance construction of a 12-classroom addition and new cafeteria for Chandler and turn the old cafeteria into classrooms.
The additions would bring square footage at Chandler Elementary to about 84,000. A new drive would be built to relieve congestion by connecting to County Road 315 north to Second Street on the west side.
Proposition Two would allow the district to construct a field house with new dressing facilities for boys' athletics and to turn some existing facilities into classrooms. The high school has outgrown existing dressing rooms and its only rest room for boys, the superintendent.
The various projects would eliminate all portable buildings in
the district.
