The Comal ISD Board of Trustees officially approved a $397.7 million bond package during a board workshop last Thursday. Voters will be presented with this package on May 2 with early voting taking place April 20-28.
For the past 12 months, the Board has been discussing various projects to include in this bond package. With feedback from a group of community members representing all areas of the district, the Board developed a package that allows the district to continue to address the 6,700 new students who are projected to enroll in Comal ISD over the next five years.
As such, the bond package will include funding for three new campuses to address continued enrollment growth: Elementary #19, located off of Hwy. 46 south, which will provide relief for Clear Spring and Freiheit Elementary Schools; Elementary #20, located across from Danville Middle school, which will provide relief for Garden Ridge and Morningside Elementary Schools; and Middle School #8, located south of FM 1863 and Hwy. 281, which will relieve Pieper Ranch Middle School.
The bond package will fund several infrastructure and reinvestment projects at existing campuses, as well as campus safety and security projects, buses, land and instructional technology. A full listing of projects by campus may be found on the Comal ISD website at comalisd.org.
In addition, the bond will fund a multi-use event center. The proposed 7,000 person capacity center will serve as the heart of all Comal ISD events, from graduations, sporting events and tournaments, concerts and performances, to school fairs and expositions. The center will be designed to be multi-functional and to support both district-wide and community events. It will include a multi-use pavilion that can be used for a variety of FFA livestock shows and similar events.
Due to recent changes in state law, the district is required to present the bond package to voters in four separate bond propositions: Proposition A for the new schools, campus safety and security, campus infrastructure projects, buses and land; Proposition B for the multi-purpose event center; Proposition C for campus reinvestment projects at Canyon High, Canyon Lake High, Smithson Valley High and Mountain Valley Middle and the multi-use event center pavilion; and Proposition D for instructional technology. Details about each of the four propositions can be found on the district’s website at comalisd.org.
Comal ISD residents who need to register to vote or need to update their voter registration due to a recent change of address, may do so until April 2. Visit Votetexas.gov for more information on how to register.