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Cuts could come to Manor ISD after bond proposal fails
After a $385 million bond proposal failed to pass this month, Manor ISD is now going back to the drawing board. The funds would have been used for upgrades and renovations across the district.
MANOR, Texas - After a $385 million bond proposal failed to pass this month, Manor ISD is now going back to the drawing board. The funds would have been used for upgrades and renovations across the district.
The money from that multi-million dollar bond proposal would have gone to fund projects across Manor ISD for the next 6–8 years, but without that funding, the district will now have to look to other sources of revenue, including making cuts to fix the issues they're facing.
Manor ISD
What they're saying:
"The bond didn’t pass. That’s OK. The needs didn’t disappear," says Dr. Robert Sormani, the Manor ISD Superintendent.
The district planned to address several of those needs with a $385 million dollar proposal on the November 4th ballot. It consisted of three propositions, aimed at safety, technology, and facility upgrades.
Almost $360 million was planned for the purchases of new buses and renovations for schools across the district, including Bluebonnet Trail Elementary.
"We're basically at a point where the building either needs to be repaired and upgraded or we really need to replace the building," says Sormani.
A portion of the bond money was also set to be used to replace out-of-date HVAC units, which the district says it spent $883,000 on last year alone.
"Not only are you losing instruction time because the AC unit in the classroom went out. But I'm also losing money I could spend on teachers by paying repair guys to come out and fix machines," says Sormani.
More than $8 million from the bond was set to replace school devices, which the district claims are reaching the end of their lifespan.
"We have a number of student devices on campus right now. That's the software the Texas Education Agency uses to do the star test will no longer work on those devices because they're too old."
Dig deeper:
When asked why Manor voters might have turned down the bond proposal, Sormani says some voters believed now was not time to spend money because of the economy’s climate, but the district’s performance may have also been a factor. For the last three years, Manor ISD has received a D accountability rating from the Texas Education Agency. After the proposal failed, some Manor residents took to social media to call for it to improve its performance before considering spending more money.
Manor ISD currently has a balanced budget and says drastic decisions won’t have to be made for now, but to keep up with operation and maintenance cost cuts will have to be made to student services outside of athletics and fine arts.
"People may hear that and think, 'Oh, that's terrible.' I think what's worse is when the air condition doesn't work," says Sormani.
Sormani says it’s too far out to clarify what programs would be cut to save funds, but those kinds of decisions will be a part of community discussions the district plans to hold in the future.
The Source: Information in this article is from Manor ISD.