Arlington ISD trustees unanimously call $501 million May bond after amending committee plan

Arlington Independent School District trustees voted unanimously on Feb. 5 to call a May 2, 2026 bond election after amending the steering committee's recommended package.

President Chapa moved the order, which specifies three propositions: Proposition A for school facilities at $438,755,000; Proposition B for technology at $30,955,000; and Proposition C for athletic facilities at $31,565,000. The vote to adopt the order carried 7'0.

The package began as a consensus recommendation from the district's capital needs steering committee (CNSC), which evaluated more than $1.8 billion in identified projects and offered two similar options near a 1-cent tax impact. Trustees used the CNSC's Option 2 as the working baseline and then amended it in public deliberations. During the meeting trustees voted to add an additional elementary school beyond South Davis, to include artificial turf for six high-school baseball fields, and to add athletic storage buildings; trustees removed junior-high LED field lighting from the bond package and directed staff to explore using interest or excess proceeds from the 2019 bond for some items that legal counsel flagged as maintenance-type expenses.

Board members debated strategy and timing before the final vote. Several trustees said they favored acting now because of long-standing facility needs and strong community support shown in polling; others urged caution about the compressed time to educate voters before a May election and recommended further polling focused on likely May voters. Chief operations staff and the district's consultant, Matt Gamble, presented a 400-voter community sentiment survey showing initial support near the margin of error for some dollar scenarios but materially higher support on "informed" ballots after voters heard project descriptions and tax impacts. Gamble cautioned that ballot language that legally must state a tax increase is often not believed by voters and said education on projects and tax impact typically raises support.

Bond counsel Sam Gill explained a 2019 change in state law and subsequent Attorney General guidance that narrowed what may be financed with debt under certain propositions; counsel advised that items historically financed by bonds in some districts (band uniforms, some instruments, and non-bus vehicles) can now be treated as maintenance and operations expenses and therefore may need alternative funding sources such as interest on prior bond proceeds, unallocated 2019 funds, or local M&O dollars. Trustees used counsel's guidance during deliberations to reclassify and, where appropriate, remove or reassign items from the proposed bond propositions.

After the board adopted the order, staff said they would post official election language and start the factual voter-education timeline the district is allowed to provide; district staff emphasized that factual education (not advocacy) would be the superintendent's responsibility, while community partners typically handle active advocacy.

Next steps: staff will finalize bond proposition language and financing details; if the election is called as ordered, the district and community will begin voter education and early-voting outreach ahead of the May 2 election.