Questions

The district’s Bond Advisory Committee consisted of over 20 members including staff members, community members, and parents. The committee met once a month each month since August. The committee members offered unique perspectives as the group worked to identify district needs. After participating in facility tours to assess facility needs, meeting with the District’s Financial Advisor, and analyzing budget and cost estimates, the committee came to a consensus and prioritized facility projects to recommend to the Board.

By law, bond funds cannot be used for payroll expenses or any daily operational costs such as utilities, supplies, fuel, and insurance.  Instead, bond funds can only be used for new buildings, additions and renovations, land acquisition, technology infrastructure and equipment, or school buses.

Typically, new construction (from bond passage to completion) takes about 30-36 months, depending on weather and scope of project.

If the junior high were to be built first, it would require a large number of portable buildings to hold class during construction. The proposed plan of building the high school first would not significantly impact instruction. The committee recommended Phase 1 of building the high school, followed by Phase 2 of constructing a new junior high on the current high school site once the new high school is complete.

Some of the units may be able to be moved to the Intermediate campus, whose AC units are still the original from 2010.

If voters approve the bond, the District’s Interest & Sinking (I&S) Tax Rate would increase by less than one penny, resulting in an estimated cost of 73 cents per month, or $8.76 annually, for the owner of a $205,484 homestead (the average value in FISD).

A school district’s tax rate is comprised of two components or “buckets”. The first bucket is the Maintenance and Operations budget (M&O), which funds daily costs and recurring or consumable expenditures such as teacher and staff salaries, supplies, software and utilities. The second bucket is the Interest and Sinking budget (I&S), also known as Debt Service, and that is for longer-term capital improvements approved by voters through bond elections. I&S funds cannot by law be used to pay M&O expenses, which means that voter-approved bonds cannot be used to increase teacher salaries or pay rising costs for utilities and services.

Under state law, if you have applied for and received the Age 65 Freeze on your homestead, your school taxes CANNOT be raised above their frozen level unless you make significant improvements or additions to your home. To apply for the Age 65 freeze, contact your county’s Central Appraisal District.

All existing debt will be paid off before this bond impacts taxpayers.

Early voting takes place from April 22 to April 29 and you can cast a ballot at any voting location during this time. Election Day is Saturday, May 3. Visit Freestone County Elections website and Navarro County, Texas for more information and a list of polling locations.

Anyone at least 18 years of age and living within the boundaries of Fairfield ISD is eligible to vote.  You must be registered 30 days before election day in order to participate in this election.

You can check your voter registration status at www.votetexas.gov.

If you need to update your address, you can simply fill out the change online.