FAQ

Have a question about the bond? View frequently asked questions below.

General

  • School districts are required by state law to ask voters for permission to sell bonds to investors in order to raise the capital dollars required to renovate existing buildings or build a new school. Essentially, it’s permission to take out a loan to build, renovate and pay that loan back over an extended period of time, much like a family takes out a mortgage loan for their home. A school board calls a bond election so voters can decide whether or not they want to pay for proposed facility projects.

  • Yes. Recent research by the Environmental Protection Agency suggests that a school’s physical environment can play a major role in academic performance. Leaky roofs and problems with heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems can trigger a host of health problems – including asthma and allergies – that increase absenteeism and reduce academic performance. Research links key environmental factors to health outcomes and students’ ability to perform.

  • Working with the Board of Trustees, teachers, and administrators from across the district, the facilities planning committee developed a list of items to consider for inclusion in a bond package. The District has been evaluating current facilities and equipment, ongoing enrollment, growth, and other district priorities with the Board of Trustees.

Taxes

  • If you qualify for an age 65+ or disabled person residence homestead exemption, the school district taxes on that residence homestead cannot increase as long as you own and live in that home. The tax ceiling is the amount you pay in the year that you qualified for the age 65+ or disabled person exemption. The school district taxes on your residence homestead may go below but not above the ceiling amount. 

    You must apply for this exemption.

  • A school district’s tax rate is comprised of two components: the Maintenance & Operations tax (M&O) and the Interest & Sinking tax (I&S). The M&O rate is used to operate the school district including salaries, utilities, furniture, supplies, food, gas, etc. The I&S rate is used to pay off school construction bonds. Bond sales only affect the I&S rate.

  • The Texas legislature passed laws in 2019 requiring all school bond elections to include the following language on the ballot: “THIS IS A PROPERTY TAX INCREASE.” The state mandates all bond ballots to include this language regardless of what individual exemptions each voter may have. The passage or failure of this bond will not impact your school district tax amount if you have an approved homestead exemption.

Questions from the Community

  • The last successful bond election for Gainesville ISD was in 2005 for $29.5 million to build a new high school. It is estimated that a Texas school district on average has a bond election about once every 10 years, with some being much more frequent while others are longer.

    GISD currently has bond debts for three bonds totaling $22,770,193.75. The original bond amounts were: 

    1995 - $6 million

    1997 - $3.5 million

    2005 - $29.5 million

    These have all since been refinanced into three small issuer series of refunding bonds (2013, 2014, 2015). The GISD website provides a dashboard showing the debt transparency:https://www.gainesvilleisd.org/departments/business-office/financial-transparency.


    Most school districts in Texas carry debt from bond elections because that’s how they fund construction of new schools, construction to renovate older campuses, replacement of expensive life-cycle systems, and additional capital projects. Approximately 90% of Texas school districts that are having bond elections, have prior bonds outstanding that were used to construct/renovate other facilities.  It is very common for a Texas school district to have multiple financings outstanding at the same time.

  • Head Start is currently in non-district owned portable buildings.  The campus will be moving to the current administration building located at 800 S. Morris Street, which was previously McMurray Elementary. The building will transition to the GISD Early Childhood Learning Center for all qualifying 3- and 4-year-old Head Start and 4-year-old Pre-K students.  The current Head Start buildings are located at 912 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave and Pre-K is at Edison Elementary. The additional space for early childhood learners will allow for expansion of both of these programs. In addition, the transition of Pre-K to another building will allow for anticipated student growth at Edison.

  • The projects will be prioritized based on overall timeline and contractor availability. In total, all projects will be completed in an estimated 3-5 years.  A bond oversight committee will be established to help with this process and review the cost and completion of the projects throughout this timeframe. 

  • There are multiple taxing entities within Gainesville that affect property taxes.  For GISD, as local taxes increase to the district, the state contribution to the district actually decreases. 

  • Due to the price of these types of large projects, we are mandated to have a competitive sealed process for all bids.  For all other projects and maintenance related repairs, we do use local contractors as much as possible.

  • The state has mandated additional security measures, but they do not fund those mandates.  GISD has applied for grants for fencing and the Centegix security alert system, however these grants do not come close to covering the full cost of these initiatives.

  • The district purchased the 900 N. Grand building using district funds balance.  There were multiple Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Grant Programs following COVID.  School districts were able to use this money to offset costs such as salaries which gave GISD the ability to reallocate those budgeted funds towards other expenses.  GISD utilized this opportunity to fund the renovations to 900 S. Grand.

  • The Facilities Planning Committee conducted a thorough review of all potential projects, which was based on the facility assessment previously conducted. They then collaborated to prioritize wants vs. needs and the results of this activity were reviewed in their final meeting.  Using that information provided by the committee, the architect provided approximate costs of each project and five scenarios were presented for the total scope and investment.  Ultimately, the committee unanimously decided on scenario 2 for the projects listed in the bond proposal totaling $58,833,798. 

    All of the Facilities Planning Committee meeting presentations with this information is linked from the bond website and can be found here: https://www.gainesvilleisdfpc.com/

  • The CTE classrooms would be new classrooms added to the current GHS campus.  It would include a new space for Culinary Arts, Visual Arts, Robotics, Black Box Theater, and Health Sciences lab.  This would not affect the current CTE classrooms due to it being a new wing and not a renovation of the current rooms.  A new band hall is not in the addition, but the current CTE rooms would be reconfigured to allow for additional space for band. 

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