Bond Initiative 1999:
Even though the bond issue that passed in 1996 was touted as being able to “meet District needs until 2004,” and the District had received a building project “grant” of $996,098 from the state’s “new facilities allotment fund in the fall of 1997,” KISD was back planning for a new bond by 1999. The Texas Legislative Budget Board recommended that Katy ISD lower its tax rate by $.16 that year, but the KISD Board only managed to lower it by $.135. By the next year they had raised the tax rate to $1.8675, which in truth meant that between 1998 and 2000, Katy ISD raised the tax rate $.1725!
The amount asked for in the 1999 Bond was $324.3 Million.
Included as “proposed” use of this money were:
Three Elementary Schools (The first two are leftover from Bonds in 1994, and 1996 which were not built but were included in the bond initiatives)
Elementary XVIII (James E. Williams) (although approved in the 1994 bond was not built until 2000-opening 8/2000). There’s no way to know if bond money from 1994, 1996 or 1999 was used.) Actual Cost: $9,602,370 (original projected cost in 1994 was $6,992,000. This was one of three schools for which voters thought they voted bond money in 1994 which was not built during the 1994-1995 years.)
Elementary XIX (Creech Elementary) (was opened on 8/2000) (The original cost was supposed to be $7,048,000) Actual Cost: $9,614.406. Opened 8/2000.
Elementary XX (King Elementary: Original cost estimate was $11,515,486. The actual cost was $11,612,600). (Opened 8/ 2001)
Elementary XXI (Schmalz Elementary) Original Estimated Cost: $13,320,481. The actual cost was $11,159,262. (Opened 8/2001)
Elementary XXII (Kilpatrick Elementary) Original Estimated Cost: $12,120,584. Actual Cost: $12,600,481 (Scheduled for completion in 2002) Actually opened 8/2003
Elementary XXIV (Exley Elementary) Cost for preliminary work: $720,000 (Scheduled for completion in 2004) No indication why $720,000 was spent two years before the school was to be built. Actual cost was $11,936,900. Opened 8/2004.
Two Junior High Schools [The first two appear to be leftover from the 1996 bond.]
Junior High VII (McMeans Junior High) Original Cost Estimate: $11,192,000. Actual Cost: $15,739,113. Completed 8/2000.
Junior High VIII (Cinco Ranch Junior High) Original Cost Estimate: $11,298,000 Opened 8/2001. Actual Cost: $16,881,621.
Junior High IX (Morton Ranch Junior High) Projected cost: $23,131,436. Actual Cost: $20,855,652. Opened 2003.
Junior High X (Beckendorff Junior High) Projected Cost: $21,235,278. Actual Cost: $18,948,425. Scheduled to open 8/2003. Actually opened 8/2004.
One High School
High School V (Morton Ranch High School) Original Projected Cost: $70,299,007. Actual Cost: $56,162,667. (Ninth grade center was not built as indicated in the bond issue.) Opened 8/2004.
Auditoriums (Performing Arts Centers) for all four existing High Schools Cost: $18,307,797. Scheduled for completion 8/2001. Cost of auditoriums was combined with Ninth Grade Centers to hide the actual cost of either. The District appears not to want anyone to know the cost of the Auditoriums as their square foot cost was very high at $1.71per square foot.
Orchestra rooms for the seven existing Junior High Schools Cost: $5,592,533. Scheduled for completion 8/2003.
A Central Food Storage Facility Cost: $5,530,996 Scheduled for completion 8/2003.
An Additional Transportation Facility Projected cost: $15,171,499 [Idea abandoned--school district bought land with the Cinco Ranch Complex for the purpose of putting the transportation center at that location but decided not to put it there. They tried to sell that part of the land in 2006 just before the last (Spring 2006) bond election (unsuccessfully). In an Open Records Request, the District indicated that the cost per acre of the Cinco Ranch complex acreage was $19,250 per acre for 130.875 acres and $5,000 per acre for 31.577 acres.
Completion of Katy High School Phase 2B Cost: $17,518,533. Scheduled for completion 8/2002. Note: this addition built after Phase I which cost $11,113,372. Original cost for Phase 2B was supposed to be $17,080,000 and it was supposed to be completed by 8/1999. [This is another example of a project that was advertised in a previous bond and then not built when the District had claimed it would be.]
Facility Improvements [No indication of what this included.] $15,000,000.
Cinco Ranch Central Utility Plant Expansion Cost: $1,642,287
A New Technology/Staff Development Center Cost: $13,646,949. Scheduled for completion 8/2001.
The First Two Phases of a Centralized Agricultural Science Center [which by the time the bond passed was only the First Phase.] $2,567,029.
Ninth Grade Centers at Taylor, Mayde Creek and Cinco Ranch High Schools
Mayde Creek High School 9th Grade Center Cost: $17,250,000 [Of note is the fact that the cost for Mayde Creek High School --the entire place- in 1984 was $17 Million.] Scheduled for completion 8/2003
Taylor High School 9th Grade Center Cost: $24,505,400. Scheduled for completion 8/2003.
Cinco Ranch High School 9th Grade Center Cost: $19,351,475. Scheduled for completion 8/2004.
An Expanded Ninth Grade Center at Katy High School Cost: $1,414,500. (This is the same place in 2010 that now needs rebuilding from the ground up!)
Technology Acquisition to fund the District’s Five Year Technology Plan Proposed Cost: $10,000. Actual cost $10,810,000.
Fiber Optic Cabling Cost: $4,000,000 In a copy of “Bond Review” a publication of KISD, the following information was printed in the Fall 2000 edition: “Construction crews are laying the last sections of Katy ISD’s $1.5 million fiber optic cable system, one of the technology items funded by the 1999 bond authorization. In the 2010 bond referendum wish list the District is asking for $2,705,000 more for cable.
The 70-mile-long-system, which will connect every school campus and support facility, consists of three connecting loops called SONET rings. The SONET ring system transports data at 52 millions [sic] bits per second, compared to the 56,000 bits per second provided to a home computer with a dial-up modem. It is being installed by FBC Communications.
The “Katy” section of the loop, which was installed during the summer, links locations east of Mason Toad. Installation of the “Taylor” loop, connecting schools south of I-10 began in August. The final “Mayde Creek” loop north of I-10 will be completed this fall.
The fiber system will save the district approximately $100,000 per year by replacing 19 separate leased data lines and allowing purchase of telecommunications service “in bulk” from a single provider. The biggest advantage, however, is the greatly increased capacity and speed of the fiber loop system. Approximately 10,000 computers are currently connected to Katy ISD’s main system, with another 5,000 expected to be added during the next two years. During peak usage times, the current system is prone to slow-downs, decreasing the ability of teachers and students to use computer resources at an optimal level.
Beyond great speed and capacity, the fiber optic system also opens up a wide variety of possibilities for on-line curriculum management, distance learning, increased Internet access, parent-school communications and staff development.”
In the Summer 2001 edition of “Bond Review” this description of the continuing project appeared: The next step of the project, installation of electronics, is being done by Nortel Network, a provider of High speed optical electronics. Nortel was awarded a contract by the Board of Trustees last February, with completion of the installation at the end of May 2001. During the summer, the district will reconfigure the data network and consolidate services.
The electronics for the fiber optic system will allow for OC48 bandwidth, which is equivalent to 2.45 GB per second of transport speed. This bandwidth will carry three different media: data, voice and video. The data network includes access to the Internet, to the district’s information systems and to administrative and instructional applications throughout the district. The goal of the network, according to Don Vickers, executive director for technology, is “to consolidate many of our distributed servers into one location, thus enhancing resources and reducing cost.”
The voice network will consist of consolidating existing lines and allowing increased phone service to all locations throughout the district. This consolidation, according to Vickers, should result in a cost reduction while increasing performance of the phone system. Video distribution throughout the district will be enhanced as video servers are installed in the system, expanding capacity for communication and staff development.” [Anyone see anything that was quickly outdated in these previous paragraphs!]
Land Purchases $5,000,000.
Bond Sale Costs $845,000.
In the fall of 2001, in a “Bond Review” brochure it was noted that in addition to all the other projects completed and under way, the District was able to “accomplish these additional improvements: expansion of the Schmalz and King Elementary School floor plan to accommodate full-day kindergarten, expansion of band and orchestra facilities at Cinco Ranch High School, new front entry and building canopy at Taylor High School, new black box theatre at Taylor High School (a black box theater had already been built new eight years before), new poured concrete entry at Mayde Creek High School, carpet replacement at Bear Creek, Hutsell, Katy and Sundown Elementary Schools and Mayde Creek Junior High, drainage at Winborn Elementary, fire alarm and intercom replacements at Sundown and Mayde Creek Elementary Schools, parking at McDonald Junior High, additional renovations at Katy High School including a west wing science classroom renovation, new epoxy counter tops in four science labs, competition gym and locker room renovations, brick refurbishing at the east gym, relocation and upgrade of Brigade and wrestling gyms, upgrade of HVAC system in Brigade gym, expansion of field house storage loft, plumbing upgrade at east gym, concession building upgrade at football field, south parking lot lighting upgrades, black box theatre upgrades, new kitchen and cafeteria expansion at the west campus.”
Of interest: District officials said that “without the new campuses, the use of portable buildings in the school district is likely to increase fivefold within the next few years; more than 100 portables are currently in place on KISD campuses.” [Of note is the fact that in 2010, even with bonds passed in 2002 and 2006, the number of portable buildings in use as of May 14, 2010 is 216! So much for promises to the taxpayers to keep kids out of these kinds of facilities!]
It was noted in an article in the Katy Times (September 19, 1999) that “Several of the facilities, such as the auditoriums and the food service facility, had been “put off” in previous bond elections."
Also noted in the same paper, “If passed by voters, the bond sales are expected to increase the district’s debt-service tax rate to the maximum 50 cents per $100 level. The maintenance & operations tax rate is also expected to hit the state limit within two years.”
Also of note is the fact that they district began using Pat Guzman as their demographer in 1997. Obviously she was just getting the hang of it as some of her projections were considerably off. Ms. Guzman subsequently changed her name to Guseman which is noted to avoid confusion for the reader. She had indicated that the demographics required the district to build 21 schools between July 2002 and 2011. Ms. Guzman at the time (summer 1997) was predicting (for the benefit of the bond committee and the Board) that by 2004 the enrollment would be 46,327. In actuality it was only 42,000. A four thousand student error equates to several schools!
The bond issue was opposed by A. D. Muller and Annette Hoffman. Without too much organized effort, the result of the election almost went in their favor. Of 5,437 voters, only 50.3% or 2,737 of them voted for the bond while 2,700 or 49.7% voted against it. Considering the extreme effort that the District makes to pressure teachers and other employees to vote (carrying Early voting boxes to schools to enable voting and combining that effort with a teachers’ meeting before school on the day the boxes are brought to the school), Mr. Muller and his group were very effective with their minimal efforts to bring the attention of the voters to what the District planned to do.
A. D. Muller was quoted at the time as pointing out that nearly 50% of the people in Katy ISD have “concerns about the district’s spending habits.” Mr. Muller went on to say, The results of the election should be “a wake up call to the district that the community is not ready to give it a blank check.”
When vote tallies revealed the schools where voters voted overwhelmingly against the bond (Katy High School 373 FOR/591AGAINST; Wolfe Elementary 89 FOR/100AGAINST and West Memorial 266 FOR/ 376AGAINST) were the very ones who stood to gain from the bond passage, Superintendent Merrell said “it didn’t mean anything that voters at some schools which would benefit the most from the bond funds voted against the proposal.”
Opponents of the bond suggested that they objected to the package “because it would push Katy’s tax rate from $1.83 per $100 of assessed property value to the legal limit of $2. On the other hand, KISD predicted the $324.4 Million bond election, if passed, would ultimately increase taxes on a $100,000 house from $1,555 to $1,700 per year.
Mr. Muller, in an Open Forum at a school board meeting, challenged the superintendent’s statement that the increase amounted to a small “pizza” a month for the average family. Down the road Mr. Muller sent six small pizzas to the Administration offices with a note that said, “Please accept these pizzas in lieu of six months worth of my school taxes!”