Dallas ISD Revises List of Campus Improvement and Construction Bond Projects

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Hawthorne Elementary will be moved up on Dallas ISD's revised list of campuses that will be improved as part of the 2015 bond program. (Photo courtesy Dallas ISD)

Hawthorne Elementary will be moved up on Dallas ISD’s revised list of campuses that will be improved as part of the 2015 bond program. (Photo courtesy Dallas ISD)

Some Dallas schools may see themselves move up or down the proposed list of bond projects, it was revealed at a recent budget workshop.

It’s been almost two years since the most recent bond package was approved by voters. It’s been a little more than three years since the Parson’s Report detailing the needs of every campus in the Dallas Independent School District came out. 

And largely because of this, new chief operations officer Scott Layne and his team began taking a closer look at the original bond projects slated for improvements or expansions, as well as some of the new construction projects. And as a result, he presented a new timeline for projects at a recent school board budget workshop — one that re-prioritizes based on decay or program need.

And as a result, design for the next 23 projects will begin as soon as the board can approve the changes (which is likely to happen this month). The need for quick approval is real — if the bulk of the construction can happen in summer months, it’s less disruptive to students.

Now, you may be wondering how this is possible — after all, a slate of potential campuses was distributed before the bond vote in 2015. Maybe you even voted based on the improvements being planned for your child’s school.

Well, the answer is both simple and kind of complicated. The bond was for improvements, expansions, and new construction, period. There was a list of schools that needed improvements, but that was not written into the language on the ballot. This was smart and necessary — districts are subject to variances in enrollment, and some schools that were at capacity two years ago might not experience the same robust student population now.

Being able to shift money around and move schools up and down the bond project list based on need means that money you approved can bend, and that’s a good thing.

Enrollment at Dallas ISD has been flat over the past two years, and that hard look that Layne took at all the proposed campuses on the initial list showed that some areas didn’t necessarily need the new campuses that had been proposed. For instance, a new school designed to relieve other elementary campuses in the Pleasant Grove area was deemed unnecessary based on enrollment numbers.

Similarly, it appears that new Pre K-8 schools in North Dallas and West Dallas will likely be scuttled to free up money to renovate other campuses to make them more amenable to growth and new programs.

Truly decaying campuses like Pinkston High and Hawthorne Elementary have been moved up in priority. Schools that have specific facilities needs related to programs offered have also moved up, such as Thomas Jefferson High, Samuell High, and the expansion needs at Sanger and Mata elementary schools.

All phase one schools (which account for $350 million of the $1.6 billion bond package) that are already involved in construction will see their projects completed as scheduled.  

Want to see the new proposed bond project list? Click here.

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Bethany Erickson lives in a 1961 Fox and Jacobs home with her husband, a second-grader, and Conrad Bain the dog. If she won the lottery, she'd by an E. Faye Jones home.
She's taken home a few awards for her writing, including a Gold award for Best Series at the 2018 National Association of Real Estate Editors journalism awards, a 2018 Hugh Aynesworth Award for Editorial Opinion from the Dallas Press Club, and a 2019 award from NAREE for a piece linking Medicaid expansion with housing insecurity.
She is a member of the Online News Association, the Education Writers Association, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, and the Society of Professional Journalists.
She doesn't like lima beans or the word moist.

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