Neighborhood Schools

Dallas ISD is the most improved large urban school district in the state, with significantly more students meeting state academic standards than ever before. Successful passage of this bond authorization will help ensure the quality of school facilities and educational resources that our children receive match the ever increasing quality of instruction that we expect for all Dallas ISD students.

Unfortunately, the average age of a Dallas ISD school building is currently 51.7 years old, several years older than the national average and significantly greater than that found in more affluent suburban districts that we as a region compete for in terms of jobs, families and economic activity. And the district’s Long Range Facilities Master Plan, completed in 2018, identified nearly $6 billion in facilities maintenance needs. Find the plans for each individual school here.

By passing Propositions A-E, we can meet top priority needs on 232 campuses across our city. Let’s give our students and families the neighborhood schools and facilities that they can take pride in for generations to come.

New Learning Opportunites

This bond proposal will not only provide necessary updates to nearly every Dallas ISD campus, it will completely renovate fourteen campuses reflecting an average age of 71 years while aiding in the construction of 10 new, innovative schools, including:

• A Pre-K-8 Montessori School in Pleasant Grove
• A Pre-K-12 Montessori School in Downtown Dallas
• A Pre-K-8 STEM School in Midtown
• A PK-8 STEM School in the Medical District
• A Visual and Performing Arts Middle School in southern Dallas

Additionally, bond funds will help to create new Career Institutes, Career Centers, and Career and Technology Labs at middle and high schools across the district to prepare students for work in high demand fields such as environmental science, culinary arts, and aviation.

Access to Technology

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted a stark divide in access to broadband internet in Dallas County and across the state. Supt. Michael Hinojosa, seeking to provide remote learning options for all students in this uncertain period, has co-led local and state initiatives to arrive at creative solutions to ensure every student has access.

By approving the bond in November, Supt. Hinojosa and district staff will be equipped with additional resources to meet their ambitious goal: broadband access for all students by January 2021.

Bond funds will also supply classrooms with computing devices, computer labs, audio visual equipment, and 3D printers for STEM classes, as well as modernize the district’s technological infrastructure, communications systems, and cybersecurity.

Racial Equity

Our nation’s growing focus on society’s current inequities following the death of George Floyd has only reinforced the district’s strong commitment to working towards equity in both educational resources and student outcomes. This bond package was developed in coordination with the district’s Office of Racial Equity to ensure all funds were allocated in an equitable manner. (See our Map of Bond Projects to explore geographic distribution.)

In addition, bond funds will be used to create Student and Family Resource Centers on campuses in four historically underserved Dallas neighborhoods within the Lincoln, Spruce, Roosevelt and Pinkston high school feeder patterns. The needs served by these resource centers will be informed by both the newly developed Community Resource Index as well as by robust community input and engagement.

Sound Financial Stewardship

The proposed bond election will be the first for Dallas ISD since 2015 and, despite its size, will not require a tax rate increase due to a combination of the district’s strong credit rating, historically low interest rates, and strong underlying property value growth within the region, particularly within the commercial areas of the district. Bonds issued by the district are serviced by a dedicated tax rate known as the district’s Interest and Sinking rate (“I&S”), which is $0.24 per $100 of underlying property value and is separate from its Maintenance and Operations (“M&O”) tax rate (which funds the district’s annual educational costs). It is worth noting that the total I&S tax revenue per student collected by Dallas ISD to service its bonds is below that charged by over 20 separate North Texas school districts, including Highland Park ISD, Coppell ISD, Plano ISD and Richardson ISD.

Moreover, historically low interest rates and a likely increasingly favorable construction market attributable to reduced economic activity post-COVID will ensure that taxpayer dollars are stretched much farther by moving forward with the bond program today vs. waiting until a later time. For example, if the current bond contemplated was issued in an interest rate environment consistent with that seen in 2015, interest rate costs over the life of the bond would be more than $1 billion higher.