‘It is truly about trust:’ EPISD votes unanimously to postpone bond election to May 2027
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The El Paso Independent School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously Tuesday to postpone voting on $480 million of bond propositions for infrastructure improvements to its campuses, to the May 2027 special election.
According to the EPISD's Citizens' Bond Steering Committee, who is overseeing the bonds, they argued Tuesday that the public has simply "lost trust" in EPISD, noting the district's financial exigency in June as a primary reason for doubt.
However, there is still great faith among the committee, that trust will be regained from the public and the much needed funding will be provided to schools district-wide.
"We cannot honestly go to a November election knowing that it would cost $200 to $300,000 of our taxpayer dollars to put that on the bond, knowing that the data shows that the voter sentiment isn't there," said Georgina Williams, the committe's chair following Tuesday's meeting.
According to EPISD, these propositions would be focused on bringing updated cooling systems and other improvements.
The district said officials plan to present three bond options to the board. They range from about $208 million to around $481 million. Documents show that each presentation has four propositions.
According to an EPISD presentation, the first option totals $208,937,257. This option is the cheapest, with the money going toward transportation, safety, replacing cooling and others.
Option two totals $445,804,136. The majority of this option would go to deferred maintenance and replacing cooling, documents said.
The third option totals $480,804,136. This is the only option with a tax rate increase, which is 0.01, documents said. It includes money for cooling, portable classrooms, transportation, playground and other amenities.
If approved, the proposals could start the process for the district to further address its needs and improvements.
Tuesday's meeting comes less than a week after the board appointed two temporary trustees for Districts 6 and 7: Matthew Reza and Brian Kelly. The two districts represent much of Northwest El Paso and the Upper Valley.
The special election is scheduled for May 1, 2027.
