BCISD gets new demographic report, picks student-created Christmas card
The BCISD Board of Trustees picked Bertram Elementary School first-grader Brett Maynard’s entry as the district’s 2021 official Christmas card. Courtesy photo
Two things are certain: Christmas comes but once a year, and Burnet Consolidated Independent School District is growing. Those were two of several topics discussed by the Board of Trustees during the Nov. 15 meeting.
Zonda Education representative Bob Templeton provided the board with a fall demographic update. BCISD Superintendent Keith McBurnett said the fall report didn’t change significantly from the summer one, but it was a reminder of the number of students who will soon walk the district’s hallways.
According to the report, BCISD is expected to have 6,128 students at the start of the 2031-32 school year, about 10 years away. As of this fall, BCISD has 3,255 students.
Based on those projections, all three of the district’s elementary campuses will reach capacity by the start of the 2026-27 school year, about five years away.
Shady Grove and R.J. Richey elementary schools are projected to hit their capacities in 2025-26. Bertram Elementary School should follow suit in 2026-27.
In May, BCISD voters approved a bond that included a construction project to increase Bertram Elementary School’s capacity from 450 students to 750. The demographic report takes that expansion into consideration.
Burnet Middle School, which has approximately 763 current students and a capacity of 1,200, is anticipated to have more than 1,200 students by the 2029-30 school year.
Growth is nothing new to BCISD, as the board, administration, campus staff, and community have been discussing and planning for it over the past several years. The numbers are a good reminder of what lies ahead.
The study will “help guide the District in planning for future facilities to address the growth in student population,” McBurnett stated in his board recap.
The board also approved a final contract with Satterfield & Pontikes Construction for $11.4 million for the Student Activity Center and $5.3 million for an athletic field project. Both are part of the 2021 bond that voters approved in May.
The Student Activity Center includes an indoor practice facility, locker rooms, weight rooms, and a parking lot. The athletic field work includes turfing the baseball and softball fields and developing a Burnet Middle School athletics complex with a turf field and a track.
In other, more festive business, the trustees selected the district’s official Christmas card.
Each year, one campus is selected to submit entries for the card. This year, that honor fell to Bertram Elementary School. The students created card designs and submitted them to their teachers. The board decided on the top three among several entries.
The board picked first-grader Brett Maynard’s entry as the winner.
As BCISD’s official card, it will be sent to other districts, school supporters, and residents during the Christmas season.