Hutto ISD voters to decide $522 million bond package. Here are the propositions.
The Hutto school district in May will ask voters to approve a $522 million bond package, the largest in the district’s history, to build new facilities and keep pace with rapid growth.
District officials hope the bond projects will be a step toward easing overcrowding at strained school campuses and planning for future growth in Hutto.
The 2023 bond projects are expected to take care of the district’s growth needs for the next five years, Superintendent Celina Estrada Thomas said.
The bond package is made up by three proposals, which voters will decide in separate propositions:
Proposition A: $471.5 million investment in facilities, which would fund constructing two new elementary schools, additional classrooms for the middle schools, high school renovations, and set aside money to purchase land for future schools.
Proposition B: $10.5 million on technology upgrades.
Proposition C: $40 million for a district academic center.
Although it would be the largest bond in Hutto school history, the package isn't expected to require an increase to the school property tax rate, largely due to the area's rapid growth bringing in more people to help cover the expense.
Hutto High School is already in the thralls of construction. The first phase of upgrades is being paid for by a $194.4 million bond voters approved in 2019. Construction in the school has made available space in the already crowded building even harder to find.
The school’s band practices in the library.
The library has relocated to an empty conference room that doesn’t fit the thousands of books in the library’s collection. Those books are in storage.
Andrew Haub, the district's lead robotics instructor, said he would love to have more space for the high school's award-winning robotics program.
Currently, the class operates out of converted rooms that aren’t ideal for building machines, he said.
“We don’t have the proper ventilation that we’d want to have,” Haub said.
The program, however, has lots of interest and could use the updated facilities that are proposed in the bond, he said.
“It really will allow us to recruit more students,” Haub said.
Estrada Thomas agreed, saying the need for more space is evident.
“We’re exceeding capacity on all 12 campuses by 2026,” Estrada Thomas said.
Some programs, such as automotive services, have ballooned in popularity among students, who have to battle for space, she said.
“If these growth patterns continue, we will have to go back to the community every four to five years,” Estrada Thomas said.
Hutto’s growth has been expansive. Developers are building new homes in 23 subdivisions and 11 more are planned, according to the district.
In the last several years, the school district’s enrollment has grown 29%, from about 6,946 students in 2017 to 9,750 in 2022, according to the district. By 2032, the district projects enrollment will grow to 17,700.
Since 2010, when the city of Hutto’s population was about 14,700 people, Hutto has grown to about 40,000 residents, according to the city.
The city is projecting it'll have about 85,000 residents by 2040.
Election day for the school bond proposals is May 6. Early voting begins April 24.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Hutto ISD proposes $522 million bond to address growth, capacity
