$26M bond for needed building upgrades, Burnet chief says
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
BURNET — A considered $26 million bond package might not be popular among taxpayers in the Burnet Consolidated Independent School District, but Superintendent Keith McBurnett says when residents are told how the money will be spent, they will see the need for it.
“People who don’t know the facilities’ needs, they’re not in favor of it,” he said. “But once people find out more, they’re more likely to be in favor of it. Our job is to make sure we inform our community about why we’re in favor of (the bond package).”
Thirteen months ago, the district hired Pfluger Architects, who looked at each campus and came up with a list of improvements. Then, the school board put together a 26-member committee filled with citizens, who looked at the recommended list. Those members then put the tasks at each campus in the order of importance.
The vast majority of the bond package will be used for maintenance of buildings throughout the district, McBurnett said, including new roofs, heating and cooling systems, plumbing, electrical, fire alarms, security cameras and new entrances that make schools safer for students.
“The reality is we have aging facilities,” McBurnett said. “Much of the bond (is made up of) maintenance issues that are long overdue.”
The projected breakdown of the bond package includes:
- $2,090,653 to Bertram Elementary
- $248,734 to Burnet Elementary
- $2,325,389 to R.J. Richey Elementary
- $10,559,622 to Shady Grove Elementary
- $4,679,759 to Burnet Middle School
- $1,479,424 to Burnet High School
- $1,888,820 to Bulldog Field
- $127,200 to Quest High School
- $793,482 to Central Office
- $31,200 to the PDC building
- $145,072 to transportation
- $2,048,400 for additional considerations such as access points at the middle school; different types of switches at the high school; storage area network at the central office; replacing 10 buses
The reason almost half of the bond is directed toward Shady Grove is because officials want to move Burnet Elementary students in grades kindergarten through second grade there. However, it’s the smallest campus in the district, McBurnett said.
“Burnet Elementary is one of our oldest campuses,” he said. “It’s the only one big enough to hold that number of students. At Shady Grove, we need to add two instructional wings.”
Officials looked at keeping the students at Burnet Elementary, the superintendent said, but the cost to renovate was a projected $16.5 million.
But Burnet Elementary will not be completely retired. McBurnett said the district wants to move Quest High School to the administrative wing, which is one of the newest in the district.
He said he can understand the concerns from citizens regarding bond packages. But McBurnett said he, the school board and other administrators also understand their duties are to educate students in a safe and thriving environment.
The budget for BCISD is $25 million with 80 percent of that going to salaries. Another 5-8 percent is spent on utilities.
“There’s really not enough money left over to take care of roofs,” he said. “We can’t do our maintenance and repairs without bonds. With maintenance and operations, there’s no capacity to do that.”
The bond also helps create more labs for expanding the Career and Technological Education program, in which students are learning skills such as welding and cooking that will help them get a job immediately after graduation.
“Thats important to us, to our students and to this community,” McBurnett said.
In fact, BCISD is creating a Future Ready Certificate that students earn if they take three classes in a CTE discipline such as Health Sciences or Agricultural Mechanics.
The certificate is something a student can take to a job interview to prove they have the skills to immediately start at that job.
“We had a student who took that certificate to an employer, who was very impressed,” the superintendent said. “So he waived the $150 training session because the student knew the skills and started him at level two pay grade because he walked in with a document.”
Go to www.burnet.txed.net and click on the facility planning tab on the left side for more information.
jfierro@thepicayune.com