A bond is similar to a home mortgage. It is a contract to repay borrowed money with interest over time. Bonds are sold by a school district to competing lenders to raise funds to pay for the costs of construction, renovations, and equipment. Most school districts in Texas utilize bonds to finance renovations and new facilities.

Bond funds can be used to pay for new buildings, additions and renovations to existing facilities, land acquisition, technology infrastructure, and equipment for new or existing buildings. Bonds cannot be used for salaries or for operating costs such as utility bills, supplies, building maintenance, fuel and insurance.

School districts are required by state law to ask voters for permission to sell bonds to investors to raise the capital dollars required for projects such as renovation to existing
buildings or building a new school. Essentially, the voters are giving permission for the district to take out a loan and pay that loan back over an extended period of time, much
like a family takes out a mortgage loan for their home. A school board calls a bond election so that voters can decide whether or not they want to pay for proposed facility projects.

The Board of Trustees called a bond election in the principal amount of $20,000,000 to be brought before voters on November 2, 2021.

Any registered voter who resides within Scurry-Rosser ISD boundaries.

You should receive a Voter Registration Certificate within 30 days. On Election Day, please bring your certificate to your local polling place if you have it. However, all that is
required to vote is a valid ID. Visit votetexas.gov to register.

We are estimating that starting Spring to Summer 2022 until the new classrooms are finished will be 1.5 to 2.5 years with renovations to follow. 

The Elementary School currently serves grades Pre-K through 3rd and the Middle School grades 4th through 8th.

The current enrollment at the Elementary is 291 and Middle School 438.

When determining capacity there is more than one answer. The available Elementary student capacity based on square footage is currently 293 and 400 at the Middle School. The teacher to student ratio is another method that SRISD considers in determining how many students may be served in a classroom. SRISD policy states that we will provide classroom space that will allow the district to maintain an ideal “Teacher to Student” ratio of 17 to 1. When a grade level enrollment exceeds the standard we need to add another classroom teacher in order to bring the ratio into compliance. At the current time we do not have classrooms to place additional teachers without the addition of classrooms in grades Pre-K through 6th. Expanding our available classroom space will allow us to maintain a healthy learning environment for our school families.

The short answer is the building will be used to relieve the current overcrowding in other areas of the Middle School where grades 6-8 would continue to be served. The MS would become a Junior High serving grades 6-8, with the 6th grade being moved into the “B” building.

SRISD has seen an increase of 135 students moving into the district since 2018. As a result of the 6.8% increase over a three-year period, the district was categorized by the Texas Education Agency as “fast growth” in 2021.  SRISD has seen an additional 42 students come into the district this school year. I am including the growth rates percentages of a few of the school districts in our area including Crandall 13.2%, Kemp 0%, Kaufman 2%, Mabank 5%, Forney 17.5%, Terrell 4%, and Rice 5.8%.

Yes, there will be a bond referendum information meeting at Scurry-Rosser High School on Monday, September 27^th beginning at 6:30 pm in the cafeteria.

Yes, we will post that information soon. Please watch for a reminder. 

• Should the referendum pass employees who own property in SRISD will receive a tax rate increase in 2022. The actual increase will not be known until the appraisal district assesses our total value, however, we are projecting a .17 to .18 cent increase per 100 dollar valuation. For example, a $200,000 thousand dollar property owner would see an increase in taxes of $30 dollars a month. With the addition of the solar farm, SRISD's total value could increase by as much as $140,000,000 million dollars. To put that number in perspective our current total value is approximately $300,000,000 million dollars. That is almost a 50% increase in value, which could lower the tax rate for homeowners. In other words, the solar farm should help the SRISD taxpayer. The solar farm's value declines over a period of ten years similar to how an automobile depreciates. So, in the first five years the higher values, if captured from a bond referendum would benefit the district by allowing a lower tax rate increase to property owners. If left on the table the window of opportunity will close. In financial projections for the bond, the district is only including a 25% collection of the projected $140,000,000 million increase in total value as a result of the solar farm. Many believe it will be higher but we feel it is important to provide conservative estimates when sharing information with the community. 
• Should the referendum pass the district would not need to spend operating dollars to provide additional classrooms for the new teachers that will be hired in order to maintain our required teacher-to-student ratios in PreK through 4th grade. The preservation of operating funds would allow the district to continue its five-year history of increasing employee pay as well as retention incentives that impact every employee.  

Our team is committed to full transparency and is available to answer your questions! Please reach out to us with your questions about the bond, to request official SRISD
informational materials, or to schedule a community forum for your organization. Call and/or email James Sanders, Superintendent, at 972-452-8823 or
James.sanders@scurry-rosser.com.