+1 for asking y'all to vote in favor of the AISD bond packages.
In 2017, AISD created a long range facilities plan that will gradually update or replace all of the district's schools, so that every kid will have the chance to attend a modernized school. Many of the schools are 50-70 years old.
The 2017 bond was the first bond package of probably 5-6 needed to make this happen. This is the second package. These large requests will probably be spaced out every five years or so. They can't repair the entire district at once because there are not enough district employees to coordinate the effort and it would overwhelm the Austin construction industry's ability to build. So large phases are needed.
Most of the replacement work for this package is going to go to schools with high populations of economically disadvantaged students. As an example of this, Travis and McCallum are about the same age and condition, but Travis is getting prioritized because of the higher ecodis population. McCallum will still get needed repairs now and likely a full replacement later. If the bond fails, both schools will just get older and we'll be talking about the same issues five years from now.
Modernized schools are going to help keep families in AISD, help AISD recruit teachers, and lower maintenance costs. The bond funding is not subject to recapture, so every dollar the voters approve will be spent here in Austin.
Every high school in town is going to get an on-campus artificial turf football field to replace grass fields, with a small seating capacity of less than 1000 seats. Almost every other high school around AISD already has these, but in Austin only Anderson (via a donation) and Ann RIchards (via a rebuild) have these fields.
The on-campus turf fields are going to benefit our sports and band programs. Our marching bands will have a chance to rehearse on an actual field rather than a parking lot. The district wants to bring a lot of smaller games back to campus sites. This will make it easier for the home team to get to games and will hopefully increase participation in band and athletics, while reducing pressure on Nelson Field, House Park, and Burger. They also want to bring some middle school games to the high school fields, to better connect the vertical teams.
The bond package was split into three propositions because state law requires some items to be separately considered. So you'll see three propositions on the ballot. One is for buildings, one is for technology, and one is for district wide athletics. Please consider voting for all of them.