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Vote for CS school bond issue

College Station school district voters are being asked to approve a $144.2 million school bond issue to build a second high school, an eighth middle school and a new bus transportation center.

There is no question the rapidly growing district badly needs all three. Yes, the bond issue would increase school property taxes up to $0.137 per $100 assessed valuation after three years --an additional $324 annually for the owner of a home appraised at $250,000 -- but A&M Consolidated High School simply cannot hold more students. It already has outgrown its 2,500-student capacity, and adding more classrooms there simply is not an option. Homeowners 65 and older will not see an increase, since their taxes have been frozen at the level they were when they turned 65.

Consolidated has almost 2,600 students this year and is projected to add up to 100 more next year.

If approved by the voters in the May 9 election, the new College Station High School -- the name was decided some years ago -- won't open until the 2012-2013 school year. The first phase of the school would accommodate 1,800 schools, while a later phase not included in the bond issue could increase the size to 2,400 students. The new school would open for freshmen or freshmen and sophomores only, adding another grade a year until it has all four grades.

Plans call for Consolidated and the new high school to be roughly equal in size when the new school grows to four grades. The two schools would offer comparable programs, and the new school would have an athletic stadium similar to Tiger Stadium at Consolidated. Both schools would be 4A, a notch lower than the current 5A University Interscholastic League designation for Consolidated. Both likely would grow into 5A status.

Although no location has been formally designated for the new high school, the most likely site is property the district owns at Barron Road and Victoria Avenue.

The College Station district is finishing construction on a new elementary school -- Creek View -- and a new College Hills Elementary School to replace the existing one. Even when the two schools open this fall, the district's elementary campuses will be at 96 percent capacity -- not enough for a district that has been growing at 6 percent a year for the past couple of years and 3.5 percent a year before that. The time to start an eighth elementary school is before the other elementary schools reach capacity. Overcrowding is not acceptable in the lower grades, and portable buildings are not good option for safety reasons.

The May bond issue includes money for the purchase of 15 or 20 more. It also includes money for a new transportation center to replace the overcrowded bus barn behind the school administration offices.

The bond issue also includes money to remodel Consolidated to expand current programs -- including career tech offerings -- once the new high school opens and to handle other smaller projects within the district.

Specifics of the bond proposal were developed by a 40-citizen Long Range Educational Planning Committee that discussed various issues, including the desired size of a new high school. An architect and a project construction manager helped the committee with the proposals, and district officials feel confident that the bond issue has enough money to complete the projects as planned.

Cost of the new high school is put at $111.3 million and the new elementary school at $19.4 million. The transportation facility is pegged at $7.8 million and other projects at $5.8 million.

Residents will vote on the entire package rather than each item separately.

There is no doubt the new schools and the transportation center are needed in the College Station district. The Eagle recommends a vote of yes on the College Station school bond issue.