Overwhelming Support For Socorro ISD Bond Measure
EL PASO, TX. – SocorroIndependent School Districtboard members met for the last time before November’s $400 million dollar bond election.
$400 million dollars is a lot of money for a district to ask of its taxpayers. Despite the expensive request, everyone who spoke at Tuesday night’s meeting spoke in favor of the bond.Supporters stood outside asking drivers to vote yes.
Inside, parents, teachers, bus drivers, even local Sierra-Providence and Las Palmas Hospital officials asked the audience to vote yes. Their public plea was the last before the November election.
“When we look at these papers on the bond issue, it’s about pre-k’s, other schools, rebuilding some facilities that need to be done. We need to take a stand on this and that vote needs to be yes for the bond issue,” said Laura Price, a teacher with SISD.
Those pre-k’s would mean all 4-year-olds in the district can start school. Overall, nearly $260 million dollars are going towards the construction of four new kindergarten schools, three pre-k to fifth grade schools, two new high schools and add-ons to two existing schools.
Nearly $7 million would go to renovations, including lighting for existing high school athletic fields. “Only if this bond goes through can these upgrades be possible,” said school bus driver Norma Olivas.
Around $18 million would be spent on equipment and furniture for campus offices and classrooms. $22.5 million would cover expansions, new computers, printers and security cameras.
Finally, a quarter of the bond would pay for refrigerated air conditioning for the 21 campuses currently without it. “You spend the day with 20 first graders in a room with no windows and tell me we don’t need refrigerated air,” said Kathy Daiser, a concerned parent.
SISD financial officers project a tax rate of9 cents per $100 dollars, or a yearly cost of about $77 dollars per$100,000. That rate will double in 2010, with a rate of 18 cents per$100 dollars.
SISDfinance officials say the tax rate estimate is probably a little higher than what it will actually be. For the 2004 bond, officials projected a 17 cents per $100 dollar tax rate, but once it was all said and done, that rate was only 7 cents.
