Manor ISD board calls November bond election after monthslong facilities review

The Manor Independent School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously to order a bond election for Nov. 4 after a monthslong facilities review and work by a citizen advisory committee.

The board approved an order calling the bond election during its Aug. 4 meeting after staff presented results of district facility assessments, demographic and capacity analyses and recommendations developed with a citizens committee and consultants. Trustee Patrick Patterson moved to call the election; Trustee Martinez seconded the motion and the board voted 7-0 to approve it.

District presenters said the package is organized into three propositions. Proposition A, described by staff as a facilities and capital package, would fund construction, renovation, safety upgrades, vehicles and equipment; staff presented a scenario that included issuing roughly $205 million as the first series of bonds, followed by additional issuances in later years. Proposition B would fund student devices and related short-cycle technology needs. Proposition C would fund a performing-arts addition at the high-school complex and related work.

Why it matters: district staff and bond advisers told trustees the district can issue the proposed debt “without raising the tax rate,” relying on growth in property values and existing debt service capacity. Presenters described a multi-year issuance plan and said the citizens advisory committee prioritized projects to fit the district’s long-range needs.

What trustees heard and asked: presenters said they worked with HPN and other consultants to produce facility condition indices and long-range plans, and that the citizens advisory committee met multiple times and ranked projects. Joe Mendez, a district presenter, said the district and its financial advisers had modeled scenarios that would allow the district to keep the tax rate at 37 cents per $100 of assessed value across the life of the bond under the example scenario presented. “We have planned to issue the debt on this bond without raising the…tax rate,” Mendez said during the presentation.

Trustees pressed for details on contingency and escalation planning given recent construction inflation; presenters said escalation and soft costs were included in project estimates and that they worked with HPN and the district’s financial adviser to model costs. Staff said soft-cost contingencies were built into each project and that they had assumed escalation percentages based on recent market experience.

Oversight and community reporting: the superintendent said she expects the citizens bond committee to roll over into a bond oversight committee if voters approve the measure. That oversight group, she said, would post project reports, monitor spending and report progress to the public. Trustees and staff discussed creating a public bond dashboard and other transparency tools to track spending and timelines.

Next steps and timeline: staff noted the board will revisit project prioritization and issuance timing as market conditions change; a scenario presented to trustees showed an initial issuance in January (approximately $205 million in the example), followed by additional issuances in later years. Presenters said actual sale timing and amounts would be set by the district in consultation with financial advisers to preserve debt capacity and manage interest-rate risk.

Votes at the meeting: the board’s vote to call the bond election was unanimous, 7-0.

The board also heard an overview of the citizens advisory process, facility-condition scoring using an Amerisco lifecycle platform, and the district’s plan to sequence projects to address deferred maintenance and capacity needs. Board members thanked the citizens committee and staff for the multi-month effort.

Staff emphasized this is a proposed bond package that will be presented to voters; the board’s action places the measure on the Nov. 4 ballot. The district will continue refining project scopes, cost estimates and the debt issuance plan before offering specific contract awards or construction authorizations.