Saturday is the last chance to vote in the Austin school district’s bond election. It’s the district’s largest bond proposition ever: $892 million.
Austin residents will four propositions to vote on. The propositions divide the nearly package by topics and projects.
Prop 1 would cover technology, transportation and food services. Prop 2 would construct new schools and boost security.
Prop 3 would allocate money for basic repairs at campuses district wide. And Prop 4 uses money for academic projects.
Some taxpayers say there’s no need for such a large bond. They say the district has money in its budget for some of the projects, especially for basic repairs. But Superintendent Meria Carstarphen says the district can’t make necessary improvements just with money from the budget:
“Ideally anything that is capital and bricks and mortar should be in a bond,” Carstarphen said. “We do not want to short-change the supports to schools when you do need people to clean the buildings and small projects done. But you won’t be able to replace a roof, build additions, relocate portables, and things of that sort out of that budget.”
Bond elections usually don’t garner high voter turnout. Five percent of voters have already cast ballots during early voting. Polls open tomorrow at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.
