Voters approved the Hutto Independent School District’s (HISD) $522 million bond package on May 6, according to a report from Austin NBC affiliate KXAN.
The Austin-area public school district presented the bond at the polls in response to its growing student population, KXAN reported.
“Thank you, voters!” HISD said in a tweet on the night of the election. “Our students won tonight!”
Per the district, all three propositions succeeded at the ballot box. KXAN reported that Proposition A was the most costly, bearing a nearly $472 million price tag, yet passed with 61% of the vote.
Under A, the station reported, HISD will build two additional elementary school campuses, make additions to existing schools and purchase land for any future projects.
District officials foresee enrollment to nearly double by the beginning of next decade.
“You have housing developments going up, developments going up,” Superintendent Dr. Celina Estrada Thomas said in the report. “Samsung that’s just bringing in enormous growth, secondary and tertiary companies that are following Samsung. This is just the beginning.”
According to KXAN, both B and C earned nearly 60% of the vote.
B accounts for the least of the bond, with approximately $11 million earmarked for what HISD said is new “instructional technology devices.”
C, the second-most costliest, will cost taxpayers $40 million to cover improvements for the district’s academic center, which houses the adult special education program and central office.
Estrada Thomas expressed gratitude for the bond’s passage in a district-issued press release.
“We are grateful to the voters of Hutto ISD for supporting this bond election and acknowledging the immediate and near-term need for these projects as we address the fast growth in our school district,” she said. “From day one, the bond process involved community input through the work of the Long-Range Facilities Planning Committee, and it has ultimately concluded with the community’s input through the election process.”
“We sincerely thank the citizens who served on the planning committee this past fall,” the superintendent added.
