Update

Trustees, community members discuss Boyd ISD’s facility needs

A crowd of about 30 people — including teachers, administrators and community members — gathered inside of Boyd ISD’s Board Room Monday night to hear and discuss the district’s current and future facility needs.

The facilities planning workshop with community members comes two months after voters rejected Boyd ISD’s $63 million, single proposition bond proposal in the May 2025 general election, 383-297 — an approximate 56 to 44 percent margin of defeat. 

Items included in the failed bond proposal were a new intermediate school campus for Grades 3 through 6 — located southwest of Yellowjacket Stadium on Cemetery Road — priced at $50 million, and an additional $23 million for infrastructure improvements for the new intermediate school, future campuses and remodeling of special needs classrooms. The district was slated to use about $11 million in leftover funds from its successful $20 million, single-proposition bond approved in May 2024 toward the project, if the May 2025 bond was approved.

Trustees are attempting to address student overcrowding issues specifically at Boyd Elementary School. The campus has a current capacity of 510, but the district is already planning for an enrollment of 520 at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year in August. Originally built in 1992 with a 350-student capacity, the campus is expected to exceed 600 in the 2028-29 school year, followed by 700 in 2031-32 and 800 in 2032-33.  

In an effort to alleviate overcrowding, the district is moving pre-Kindergarten classes to the district-owned Cornerstone Community Action Agency Head Start building — which formerly was Boyd Intermediate School — at 650 Knox Avenue for the 2025-26 school year.   

After a presentation from Superintendent Tom Woody, the board opened the meeting to the audience asking local residents’ thoughts on why the May 2025 bond was voted down. 

“I don’t think all of the improvements were conveyed to the community,” elementary parent Dustin Walker said. “As far as I can see, the community was informed on the severity, and then basically all of the benefits of the bond. “…People were wondering if their kid was going to have to keep busing for special education.”

Walker also suggested the district focus more on informing voters about the bond in person instead of through its website or email.

“Nobody checks their email, and nobody’s going to look at a QR code,” he said. “If stuff’s in the mail, they’ll actually read it for a second. But the best thing is to have a face-to-face [meeting] and explain where we’re at, and what improvements are going to be there to make the child’s education better… I don’t care about the taxes — I want my kids to have a good education.”

Board member Aaron Lambert addressed the district’s June meeting, in which board members heard a presentation regarding the possibility of purchasing portable buildings to address overcrowding.

Last month, Gallagher Construction Company vice president of business development Steve Risser provided several examples, including two 2-classroom portables at a cost of more than $266,000. However, the cost ballooned to more than $600,00 with $340,000 for additional necessities — including a 6-foot perimeter fence, electrical, fire alarm, data/access control and security, infrastructure and utilities, landscaping, sidewalks and canopy. 

Risser also detailed a lease for a 12-classroom modular building with an interior corridor, similar to one currently leased by Irion County ISD. The 1-year lease agreement with Mobile Modular Management Corporation of Grand Prairie includes a $51,020 initial delivery cost, monthly rent — including personal property expenses — at $6,045.60 and a $32,132 charge if the district chooses to return the building.  The district would cover cost associated with necessary infrastructure, dirt work, utilities and foundation.

“When we were budgeting for the school, the average cost per square foot was $450. By the time we do the portable buildings, infrastructure and everything else, it’s around $400 per square foot. Yes, we’re saving $50 a square foot, but we’re getting a portable that’s not safe and that’s not efficient, either.”

Woody confirmed that if the district proceeds with purchasing or leasing portable buildings for classrooms, the money spent will be from the district maintenance and operations (M&O) funds, which also covers teachers’ salaries. 

“We’d be using the same money on [portables] as we do for teacher salaries and operating costs,” he said. “So the more you use on that to buy portables, then the less you can do…”

Boyd resident Jacklyn Waldrop believes the best direction for the district to go would be to build a new school, rather than rent portables. 

”We’re spending the money anyways,” she said. “So we’re taking away what we can provide your student — which has already been the bare minimum — to put your kids in the building… Let’s set a date [and say] either we make some changes, vote yes for the students or there will be portables [on] by this day. I think that needs to be the big point when we set up a committed and go to these events and try to casually speak to parents. Tell them this is where we are, and this is what is happening next year.”   

Danielle Selby, a member of the City of Boyd’s Municipal Development District (MDD), suggested the district provide visual aids showing the price of building a new school compared to the price of portables, as well as the cost increases associated with building a new school in the future compared to the present-day amount.   

“The reason we’re trying to do the infrastructure now is because it’s going to be a whole heck of a lot more expensive in five to 10 years, and even next year,” Selby said. “It’s only going to be more, and so the taxes are even going to increase on that.” 

Elementary teachers Megan Maynor and Becky Salmon also spoke during the discussion, highlighting issues caused by overcrowding and deteriorating conditions at the campus. 

“[I was] trying to dig instruments out of the closet for kids for our music class, and I had an experience with a mouse — I don’t like that,” Maynor said.  “We are literally cramming things [and] overloading closets because we have no space.” 

“Our special [education] teachers have cleaned out our book room —  we have no storage for books now for our children — and we have seven teachers sharing that room. We need a bigger, more accommodating school for our kids,” Salmon added.

The conversation then swung toward the increase in the district’s debt service tax rate if the bond had passed. The rate was slated to rise to 50 cents per $100 valuation an increase of 27.50 cents from its current 22.50-cent amount. If the full amount was levied at once, that would result in an increase of $48.95 per month — $587.36 annually — on the district’s average home valued at $313,585, under the current $100,000 homestead exemption. 

If voters approve Proposition 13 — increasing the homestead exemption on school taxes to $140,000 — in the November 2025 general election, the impact would be $39.78 per month for the same average home value, or $477.36 annually. 

Boyd mayor Rodney Holmes recommended the board call for the bond in November in order to potentially get more voters to the polls. 

“In my experience with elections, which I have quite a bit, May elections are a lot smaller,” Holmes said. “Early voting is a lot shorter [and] you don’t have as much time to go vote on weekends. Notoriously, May elections are for people who want to vote against something — they will make an effort to make sure they go vote. How about moving it to a November election, where most people are used to voting?”

According to Woody, the district would have to formally call for a bond for the November general election in August. 

Holmes also suggested sharing videos of the district’s issues, such as overcrowding and mold in classrooms, as a way to show voters the need for new educational facilities. 

“Put a picture of how crowded it is at lunch in the elementary school, or of the traffic situation,” he said. “Sometimes, you’ve got to put your dirty laundry out there to get people’s reaction and let them know.”

Board vice president Kenneth Shepherd agreed that photo evidence of issues in the current school buildings would help the district build a case for new facilities. 

“”I know there’s comments when we had the phone policy and things like that, that this is a prison. Well, you see those types of pictures, that really looks like lockdown. I think people just have to see that officially,” Shepherd said.

Boyd Intermediate School principal Alisen Adcock floated the idea of showing parents issues on campus during open houses or Meet the Teacher Night — events with additional parent foot traffic inside the buildings. Other audience members voiced approval to share information at events such as the elementary school’s Fall Fest, which has been relocated to Boyd High School due to lack of room. 

The next Boyd ISD regular meeting is 5 p.m. Monday, June 21.