A new community group this week began the work that could lead to another attempt to pass a bond issue at Decatur ISD next spring.
While a bond planning committee is not new to the district — a similar group was formed in the fall of 2022 — this group has data the previous group did not.
First and foremost, the planning committee has the results of two failed bond elections from 2023 to take into account. The previous bond/facilities committee came up with a recommendation for a two-proposition, $331.2 million bond. The centerpiece of that bond was the construction of a new high school to handle future growth at that campus and move the current middle school to the current high school to alleviate ongoing capacity issues at the campus.
After voters rejected that proposal in May of 2023, the district called a $68.1 million bond in November 2023 to primarily address maintenance issues throughout the district. While the proposal was not expected to increase the tax rate, that bond also did not pass.
The following April, the district formed another community group to focus not on a bond package but on a long range facilities plan for the district. That long range facilities plan was later submitted to and approved by the school board.
Brett Sumrow with the architecture and design firm Corgan, who the district has employed for previous construction projects and bond/facilities planning, facilitated Monday’s meeting of the Bond Planning Committee. He explained that the long range facilities plan will guide discussion and decisions about a possible bond.
He also explained that the district has set certain guidelines based on the previous bond elections and feedback it has received.
“This district does not want to go back and ask for a large tax increase to the community,” Sumrow told the group. “…The district’s not comfortable doing that. The district wants to build up some trust by saying, let’s do something smaller that has little to no tax increase, and then let’s deliver on what we promise before we come and try to do something else.”
That means the bond planning group will likely focus on addressing the most critical needs — including addressing the over capacity issues at McCarroll Middle School — while waiting for a future bond issue to address future enrollment growth.
Other more immediate needs identified by the long range facilities planning group which could be a part of a bond included security issues, campus life cycle replacements and additions at the high school for programs such as CTE, fine arts and an enlarged kitchen/cafeteria. The district has also identified transportation as another issue that could be addressed in a bond.
Superintendent Taylor Williams, a 2006 Decatur High School graduate, spoke to the group of about 70 community members in personal terms about what Decatur ISD has meant to her. She talked about the impact her kindergarten teacher Lou Hitt had on her decision to become a teacher and the encouragement she received from other teachers throughout the years.
Without that encouragement, she might have ended up in a very different place, she said.
“I literally would not be where I am without this school district,” Williams said. “My parents did not have the resources or the knowledge to push me to go to college. It was people (at Decatur ISD) who said, ‘Taylor, you need to teach one day.’ They told me that in middle school, they told me that in high school. I enrolled in the future teacher program at DHS, and that’s the reason I went (to college). And so I think as we go through this process, we can’t forget the ‘Taylors’ that are in our system, because there’s a lot of kids like me in Decatur. This is the best thing that happens to a lot of kids.”
She also spoke about the need to be transparent throughout the entire process. Since becoming Decatur ISD superintendent, Williams has sent several letters to parents and community members about the state of the district. She said she also plans on sending out information on “Finance Fridays” each week to explain the school finance system and how it affects the district.
Information from Monday’s meeting and information about the three other planned meetings is also available at decaturisdbondplanning.com.
The next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 2 at McCarroll Middle School, which will include a tour of the campus.
The deadline to call a bond for the May election is Feb. 13.
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