CenTexSports
07-14-2006, 07:50 AM
HUTTO GROWTH DEMANDS HIT SCHOOL DISTRICT
(HUTTO) Workers finishing the interior of a two-story addition to Hutto High School are racing to house growing numbers of students in a city that is nearly 10 times larger than it was six years ago.
School board members have entered the race, too. Trustees are gearing up for a final study of an $83.9 million bond issue that they hope will keep the district at least one step ahead of a 3,145-student population that has been growing in recent years at rates nearing 25 percent annually.
The bond proposal, which so far includes a new elementary school, a middle school and large additions to Hutto High, could go to the voters Nov. 7 after trustees determine the final amount of the package.
A 17-member residents committee that studied facility needs over the past four months will present its proposal for an $83.9 million bond package at the July 20 board meeting.
Committee member Tracy Vollentine, who has two children in the schools, said the need for new campuses is obvious.
Vollentine said "People are moving here because Hutto is convenient to Austin and this is a good school district." She said "We can't erect a gate outside Hutto and have the growth stop, even though we'd like to."
Hutto High School, which has 800 students, is a good example. The two-story classroom wing under construction this summer is being paid for by a $53 million bond issue approved by a 2-to-1 margin of voters in 2005.
When the addition, containing science and computer labs and conventional classrooms, opens sometime between October and January, the campus will have the capacity to accommodate a student body of 1,200, according to Superintendent David Boorer.
Because demographers expect Hutto High to have 1,000 students by the end of the coming school year, trustees are asking voters to approve nearly $35 million in the Nov. 7 package to add two more two-story wings, along with additional stand-alone wings.
The district is expecting 2400 high school students by 2010. Statistics compiled for municipal officials show that Hutto grew from 1,200 in the year 2000 to 10,700 in 2005. By the year 2010, the city is expected to have a population of more than 20,000.
In the committee's bond proposal, $14.3 million is earmarked for a 700-student elementary school to be built near the intersections of County Roads 109 and 110 that would open in fall 2008.
Another $25.3 million in the package would construct a middle school for 1,200 students south of U.S. 79, which bisects the city.
Two elementaries will open soon: Cottonwood Creek, which will start classes this fall, and Ray, which is scheduled to open in 2007. How much the bond package would affect tax rates will not be known until the final package is set later this summer.
Boorer said the property tax rate for the 2006-07 fiscal year will be $1.73 per $100 in assessed value: 10 cents lower than last fiscal year's rate of $1.83, after the Texas Legislature lowered property taxes in May.
Boorer said trustees might be able to lower costs of expanding Hutto High even more if an idea for a joint venture between the city and the district works out.
The district could build a library near the high school that the city would pay to staff, for example.
Board President Wes Sawyer said that he expects the trustees to accept the committee's $83.9 million recommendations but that the board first plans a public hearing, as yet unscheduled, on the package.
(HUTTO) Workers finishing the interior of a two-story addition to Hutto High School are racing to house growing numbers of students in a city that is nearly 10 times larger than it was six years ago.
School board members have entered the race, too. Trustees are gearing up for a final study of an $83.9 million bond issue that they hope will keep the district at least one step ahead of a 3,145-student population that has been growing in recent years at rates nearing 25 percent annually.
The bond proposal, which so far includes a new elementary school, a middle school and large additions to Hutto High, could go to the voters Nov. 7 after trustees determine the final amount of the package.
A 17-member residents committee that studied facility needs over the past four months will present its proposal for an $83.9 million bond package at the July 20 board meeting.
Committee member Tracy Vollentine, who has two children in the schools, said the need for new campuses is obvious.
Vollentine said "People are moving here because Hutto is convenient to Austin and this is a good school district." She said "We can't erect a gate outside Hutto and have the growth stop, even though we'd like to."
Hutto High School, which has 800 students, is a good example. The two-story classroom wing under construction this summer is being paid for by a $53 million bond issue approved by a 2-to-1 margin of voters in 2005.
When the addition, containing science and computer labs and conventional classrooms, opens sometime between October and January, the campus will have the capacity to accommodate a student body of 1,200, according to Superintendent David Boorer.
Because demographers expect Hutto High to have 1,000 students by the end of the coming school year, trustees are asking voters to approve nearly $35 million in the Nov. 7 package to add two more two-story wings, along with additional stand-alone wings.
The district is expecting 2400 high school students by 2010. Statistics compiled for municipal officials show that Hutto grew from 1,200 in the year 2000 to 10,700 in 2005. By the year 2010, the city is expected to have a population of more than 20,000.
In the committee's bond proposal, $14.3 million is earmarked for a 700-student elementary school to be built near the intersections of County Roads 109 and 110 that would open in fall 2008.
Another $25.3 million in the package would construct a middle school for 1,200 students south of U.S. 79, which bisects the city.
Two elementaries will open soon: Cottonwood Creek, which will start classes this fall, and Ray, which is scheduled to open in 2007. How much the bond package would affect tax rates will not be known until the final package is set later this summer.
Boorer said the property tax rate for the 2006-07 fiscal year will be $1.73 per $100 in assessed value: 10 cents lower than last fiscal year's rate of $1.83, after the Texas Legislature lowered property taxes in May.
Boorer said trustees might be able to lower costs of expanding Hutto High even more if an idea for a joint venture between the city and the district works out.
The district could build a library near the high school that the city would pay to staff, for example.
Board President Wes Sawyer said that he expects the trustees to accept the committee's $83.9 million recommendations but that the board first plans a public hearing, as yet unscheduled, on the package.