El Campo ISD facilities committee recommends roughly $81 million bond package, readies spokespeople for board presentation

A citizen facility committee for EL CAMPO ISD endorsed a recommended bond package and agreed to send spokespeople to present that recommendation to the district board next week, committee members said at their final meeting.

Committee facilitator Mr. Callahan summarized the group’s work and said the committee will present its recommendation to the board at “6:00 next Wednesday.” He said the proposal packaged the work into a single proposition and noted that, based on current appraisal values, the district’s tax rate as currently set would support about $80,905,000 in bonds.

The committee’s recommended package combines two primary projects: a campus-scale replacement/renovation at the high school and new construction at Hutchinson Elementary. Committee presenters and consultants described the high school scope as a two‑story academic wing to match existing A and Science buildings, a new administration building, a new cafeteria sized to seat 500 students (up from an earlier 300‑student plan), new counseling and CTE spaces, a dance studio, band and choir rooms, and targeted renovations in the CTE building. The high‑school project was described in the meeting as “just under $56,000,000.” Hutchinson was described as “just under $23,000,000.”

Committee presenters said the increase in the high‑school estimate from earlier figures (about $52 million) came largely from added scope—principally expanding the cafeteria, adding CTE shop and locker-room scope, traffic‑flow and parking improvements, and accessibility upgrades—rather than a simple rise in per‑unit construction costs. The speakers said the cafeteria change alone increased that element’s cost by about 40 percent. Presenters noted that all numbers were preliminary and could change when the district goes to bid.

Committee members discussed contingency planning and said the recommended totals include both scoping contingency and the typical owner/contractor construction contingencies; presenters said a roughly $3 million scoping contingency is included within the campus total. The group also noted a longer‑range placeholder of roughly $47 million identified in planning materials for future replacement or consolidation of Maya and North‑side campuses, but members said that project is not part of the bond package the committee will present.

Committee members and staff described next steps: the committee will present its recommendation to the board at the meeting next Wednesday, several committee volunteers (named by participants as Jim, Jana, James and one other) agreed to serve as primary spokespeople, and about eight additional people said they would attend in support. The committee was told the board has scheduled a special meeting Feb. 5 at which it could call a bond election; no board action to call the election had been taken during the committee meeting.

Members discussed communications strategy and outreach if the board calls an election, including a planned public information push that would stress the district’s statement that the proposal is a “no tax rate increase” (i.e., no change to the district’s current tax rate) while explaining how the bond would fund the described projects. The committee ran a SWOT exercise during the meeting to gather input from members on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the package and to inform messaging. Committee members and presenters flagged misinformation as the top communications threat and discussed using a mix of digital and traditional outreach, QR codes at pickup lines, civic organizations, and presentations to local groups.

Committee members also raised unrelated district facility items during discussion. A district speaker noted that recent work to improve the football field (new turf and underlying pad) was paid from board‑set fund balance dollars and is not part of the bond package, and the speaker asked committee members to help correct public misinformation about what the bond would include.

The committee closed by asking volunteers to remain available for follow up (campus tours, outreach, fundraising if a political committee is later formed) and by confirming the spokespeople who will present the recommendation to the board next week. The board will decide whether to call the election at a later board meeting; that decision, and any bond schedule, would be public board actions separate from the committee’s recommendation.