Lake Travis school board calls $143 million school bond election for athletic facilities
The Lake Travis school board has called a $143.1 million bond referendum aimed at building athletic facilities at the planned second high school and upgrading the ones at Lake Travis High School and the district's three middle schools.
The proposed bond election, to be held Nov. 7, is a do-over after a $93.8 million athletics proposal failed in the fall as voters approved $609.2 million in other school-related projects, including the new high school.
The 2023 bond proposal includes $102.7 million to build football, soccer, baseball, softball, tennis, track and other facilities at the new $176.1 million high school, which will be built along Reimers-Peacock Road.
Last November, the athletics proposal failed with 63.4%, or 18,412 of 29,049 votes, opposing the measure.
The $548.4 million Proposition A and $60.8 million Proposition B both passed with more than 52% of the votes.
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The new bond package also would fund $26.6 million in athletic upgrades for Lake Travis High School, such as baseball and softball artificial turf, additional seating and a new press box for Cavalier Stadium, and an addition to the women’s field house.
Bee Cave and Lake Travis middle schools would each get $1.2 million to replace turf and track surfaces. Hudson Bend Middle School would get $2.3 million for turf and track replacement and additional physical education space.
The 2023 bond plan would fund construction of athletic facilities at the yet-to-be-named high school, which otherwise wouldn’t have any of its own, said Dana Rieder, a parent who served on a district long-range planning committee, during a May presentation to the board.
“We are all about equality in this district,” Rieder said.
During community meetings after the November 2022 bond vote, some community members asked why the students couldn’t share the facilities at Lake Travis High School, Rieder said.
The logistics alone would pose challenges, but Rieder said the students at the new school deserve to have their own facilities, decked out with their own mascot and colors.
“Then it’s not their home field,” Rieder said of sharing. “It truly makes a difference.”
The second high school is expected to open in the fall of 2027, according to the district.
Early voting will begin Oct. 23.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Elections: Lake Travis school board calls $143 million athletics bond
