JACKSONVILLE — Jacksonville Independent School District is asking the voters to decide whether the district can pursue a $49.865 million school bond in the Nov. 2 election.

This bond would help build a new East Side Elementary on the current school’s site, a new Joe Wright Elementary on district-owned land on U.S. 175, and renovations and additions to Fred Douglass Elementary and Jacksonville High School.

The ballot for the bond proposal reads, “Proposition: The issuance of $49,805,000 of bonds for Jacksonville Independent School District facilities and levying the tax in payment thereof.”

The district estimates $21.4 million of the proposed bond would be paid by state and federal funding, if approved by voters.

However the remainder of the balance of the bond would cost the owner of an average home in JISD approximately $11.51 per month. The only exception being senior citizen homestead school taxes, which would not see an increase.

The amount of the proposed bond was reached through the cooperative effort of a 20-citizen committee that examined campus and district needs, projected student enrollment growth, and other factors.

JISD Superintendent Dr. Joe Wardell spent the last several months explaining this procedure to community groups, including the Jacksonville Literacy Council, Jacksonville Rotary Club and others.


“A facilities committee was formed which included members of the community and representatives from the school district,” Wardell told Rotary members. “I believe four of you were on that committee. That is where the recommendation for our bond issue came from.”

Wardell said the committee stated in order to enact a short term plan for, among other improvements, two new elementary school buildings, the district would need to pass a $49.865 million bond issue at a rate of $0.19 per $100 valuation of homes eligible for school taxes.

He also said a tax rate calculator is available at www.jisd.org for those interested in what their tax rates will be should the bond issue pass.

JISD literature about the bond also explains that the proposed bond monies would be divided as follows:

$16.7 million, or 33 percent of the total, would build the new Joe Wright

$16.7 million, or 33 percent, would build the new East Side

$12 million, 24 percent, would be earmarked for the high school in order to build eight new science labs, a new dining/kitchen area, hallways to connect the campus’s buildings, an renovate the existing dining hall into a new band hall

$4.5 million, 9 percent, would be used at Fred Douglass to build a new cafeteria, renovate the existing cafeteria into classrooms, and enlarge the existing library

Local public entities endorsing the proposed bond include Jacksonville City Council, Jacksonville Economic Development Corporation, Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, Jacksonville Education Foundation, Jacksonville College and Lon Morris College.

A special political action committee called Vote Yes 4 Kids has also formed to support the bond. More information about and from the committee can be viewed at www.voteyes4kids.com/jacksonville.

No formal groups opposing the bond have been organized.

For more information, visit:

JISD Appraised Home Value Tax Calculator

http://jisd.org/taxcalc.htm

JISD’s informational bond brochure

http://jisd.org/bondbrochure.pdf

JISD’s notice of bond election

http://jisd.org/notice_of_election_bond_2010.pdf

JISD demographic study results

http://jacksonville.tx.schoolwebpages.com/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=3105

Vote Yes 4 Kids

http://www.voteyes4kids.com/jacksonville