CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Early voting has started in Aransas County and on that ballot is a $66 million bond being proposed by Aransas County ISD that would make upgrades to their schools.
Aransas County ISD Superintendent Dr. Joshua Garcia said the proposed bond is hoping to address a few upgrades to Aransas County ISD schools.
He said it’s the biggest bond they have ever proposed.
Garcia added it would allow them to build a new 2-story addition to the high school that would allow them to expand the fine arts classrooms.
“This will encompass a little over 30 classrooms and it’s going to eliminate the need for some of the older structures that were built in the 1950s,” Garcia said.
He said if the bond passes, they would also make improvements to the restrooms, concession stands and seating at the baseball and softball complex.
Garcia said the bond would also fix flooding issues at the high school, middle school and Fulton Learning Center.
“We’re always having to address some of those plumbing issues that just come with having older structures,” he said.
If the proposed bond does not pass, Garcia said they will go back to planning and restructuring it. He said there are some things they are still required to fix, like water access and plumbing issues.
The bond would also make district wide improvements, like air conditioning upgrades and adding more security cameras.
If the proposed bond is passed by voters, a representative from Aransas County ISD said construction will take around 3-5 years to be completed.
At the Fulton Learning Center, the proposed bond would eliminate portable classrooms and build new ones connecting to the main building.
Deidra Cate is the ACE site coordinator at Fulton Learning Center and is on the bond committee.
She said building new classrooms would improve technology and benefit students.
“Many of our classrooms have two outlets that we have a classroom of 25 students all needing to use Chromebooks and so, that in itself just poses a problem,” Cate said.
Bond committee member Jeff Hutt says he’s happy with the way Aransas County ISD is handling the bond, but said they should have broken the bond into sections so voters have a choice.
“What it’s going to cause some people to do, to either to vote for it, even though they don’t want some things in it, or vote against it, even though they don’t want some things in it,” Hutt said.
