VICTORIA ISD bond committee favors large modernization package; ranks STEM middle school move top

Victoria ISD Superintendent Sheila (last name not specified) told the bond committee on Oct. 25 that administrators recommend a multi-campus modernization plan and that “the time is now” to take advantage of public momentum and rising construction costs.

The workshop reviewed 10 years of enrollment data, facility assessments and estimated renovation costs, and asked members to privately rank a set of bond options. Committee tabulation announced near the session’s close showed a clear advisory preference for modernizing the 56-classroom STEM middle school and moving Smith STEM Academy students to that facility: 26 committee members circled the STEM 56-classroom option versus 2 who chose modernizing Smith in place. For the option affecting Dudley and Hopkins elementaries, 18 preferred a new Stroman elementary with Hopkins and Dudley wings, 5 chose Dudley modernization, and 3 chose Hopkins modernization.

The administration’s presentation summarized enrollment trends (about 2,000 fewer students districtwide than a decade ago and roughly 180 fewer students than at this time last year), attendance-zone and feeder-pattern analyses, and annual insurance and utility costs for underused campuses. Administration…