Citizens Bond Advisory Committee

Keller ISD’s Citizens Bond Advisory Committee met Tuesday evening, April 7, to begin discussions about a potential bond proposal to address facility needs and capital improvements.  

Just days after completing their joint work with the Long-Range Planning Committee, the CBAC dug into the details of public school financing in Texas, explored ways in which bonds could free up operational funding to better support students and staff, and reviewed Keller ISD’s most recent bond package from 2019.  

Critical to the committee’s work is the understanding that Texas school finances are divided into separate funds:  

• General Operating Fund (Maintenance and Operations or “M&O”) – pays for day-to-day operation of schools, including salaries, utilities, supplies, and fuel costs; and 
• Debt Services Fund (Interest & Sinking or “I&S”) – used to repay bond debt that funds new construction, renovations, HVAC systems, roofing, and technology.  

When district infrastructure begins to age or fail, the costs for repairing or maintaining those systems come out of M&O, the same funds used to pay teachers and fund student programming. The CBAC talked about how updating or replacing aging systems – like HVAC, plumbing, and electrical – through bond funding could help reduce pressure on operating funds and allow for more resources to be directed to students and staff.  

Keller ISD’s most recent bond election passed in 2019. Despite economic interruptions during COVID-19, projects progressed within budget thanks to quick action by district staff to purchase building materials early in the pandemic. 

Bonds are the mechanism created by the Texas legislature for school districts to address capital needs, as the state does not provide direct funding to replace or modernize schools. Bonds serve communities by:  

• Addressing aging infrastructure;  
• Involving stakeholder input and review;  
• Requiring voter approval;  
• Ensuring local control (bond funds are not subject to recapture); and  
• Being designated for specific use (bond funds cannot be used for salaries, operating expenses, or general instruction).  

Over the next few months, the CBAC will review current and projected facility needs and the district’s bond capacity to develop a new proposed bond package. 

Click here to view the presentation shared at the April 7 meeting.

Keller ISD's Long-Range Planning and Citizens Bond Advisory Committees met jointly to review a proposal for school consolidation. The proposal included: 

• Closing Bear Creek, Parkwood Hill, and Trinity Meadows intermediate schools to align all KISD schools within a consistent grade level structure (elementary: prek-5, middle: 6-8, and high: 9-12); 
• Closing Shady Grove Elementary and reassigning those students to nearby campuses to make more efficient use of the district's campuses, SGES representing a campus in need of $5.9 million more in capital improvements than neighboring schools; 
• Adjusting school boundaries to balance enrollment in the district, support the new grade structure, and "un-split" Ridgeview Elementary – which currently serves two separate high schools – allowing the district to save on transportation costs and more efficiently utilize elementary campuses in the Timber Creek High feeder pattern. 

Committee members provided district leadership with feedback on the plan, which would not take effect until the 2027-28 school year, allowing time to finalize details and support families through the transition. The proposal will next be considered by the Board of Trustees for approval. 

Click here to read more about the campus consolidation proposal reviewed at the April 2 meeting. 

Click here to view the presentation from the April 2 meeting. 

Keller ISD’s Long-Range Planning and Citizens Bond Advisory committees met once again to discuss criteria that district leadership should consider as they develop a plan for more efficient operations through campus consolidation.  

At the previous meeting, committee members narrowed their focus to 13 potential criteria statements. At this week’s meeting, members reviewed and asked questions about those topics before voting on their highest priority criteria in table groups.  

Ultimately, the criteria for consolidation that the committees most prioritized were:  

⚖️ Grade Alignment & Configuration  
📊 Campus Occupancy & Utilization  
💵 Cost of Bringing Facilities to Compliance  
🚌 Transportation Considerations  

Other criteria that received strong consideration from the majority of committee members included:  

🏦 Prioritizing Facility Costs 
💵 Cost of Relocating Special Programs  
🏗️ Facility Condition Index Score  
🛡️ Limiting Staff & Student Disruptions  
⚖️ Program Equity Across Campuses 
⚓️ Feeder Pattern & Boundary Stability  

KISD leadership will now use those criteria to develop different scenarios for school closures and attendance zone alignments. Those scenarios will be presented to the committees at their next joint meeting on March 10 for consideration and feedback before being presented to Keller ISD’s Board of Trustees.  

Keller ISD’s Long-Range Planning and Citizens Bond Advisory committees came together for the third of five planned joint meetings to begin developing potential criteria for more efficiently utilizing the district's resources through campus consolidation.

Superintendent Dr. Cory Wilson opened the meeting by directing the focus of the approximately 120 committee members to consider what’s best for Keller ISD as a whole, as opposed to considering what’s best for a particular school, feeder pattern, or city. He encouraged the attendees to focus on the district’s current needs ahead of any potential “wants,” and assured them that intentional time and effort will be spent ahead of the 2027-28 school year providing support for families and staff impacted by consolidation.

The committees spent time learning more about the costs associated with operating Keller ISD schools, including reviewing data about the inefficiency of operating underutilized campuses. Generally, the lower the percentage of occupancy of a campus, the more it costs, per-student, to run the school.

Committee members then spent the majority of their time brainstorming and discussing potential criteria that district leadership should take into consideration. Work first took place in table groups of 8-9 stakeholders. As tables posted their respective ideas, other committee members had an opportunity to review and cast votes for criteria statements they supported. That information will be used moving forward to help narrow down the committee's priorities when it comes to identifying campuses for consolidation.  

Click here to view the presentation shared at Thursday’s meeting.

You can keep up with the work of the committees at www.KellerISD.net/Future where you can also find an ever-growing list of answers to frequently asked questions about Keller ISD’s campus consolidation process.

Keller ISD convened its Long-Range Planning and Citizens Bond Advisory committees for the second of five joint meetings to discuss the district’s future course, and specifically school consolidation needs.  

This meeting offered the 120 committee members a deeper dive into KISD’s demographic projections, including an analysis on what factors are impacting declining enrollment. Economic conditions – like slower job growth in the region – combined with declines in home-building and homeowner mobility, along with declines in birthrates and increases in alternative education opportunities, lead experts to project that KISD’s enrollment will drop by 5,000 students over the next five years.  

The committees also reviewed the work that has gone into assessing the condition of Keller ISD’s facilities over the past two years and previewed some of that analysis. More than half of the district’s current school buildings were constructed during a 10-year period between 2000-2010, meaning that mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) infrastructures are at or approaching 20-25 years old. At that age, failures in certain areas are not uncommon, and the district is faced with having to address many of those issues at one time.  

Costs for repairs come out of the district’s maintenance and operations (M&O) budget, the same funds that would otherwise be used to invest in classrooms and teachers. However, with the way the Texas Legislature has set up public school funding, facility updates could be made through a bond package and paid through the district’s debt service or “interest and sinking” (I&S) account, freeing up M&O funds to invest in student learning.  

Lastly, the committees previewed potential criteria for campus consolidation. The committees will be tasked with determining the community’s priorities as it relates to more efficiently utilizing KISD schools, which district leadership will then use to identify what campuses will need to be closed and consolidated. While district leadership provided some examples of what that criteria could look like, it will ultimately up to the committee to make those decisions.  

Click here to view the presentation shared at Thursday’s meeting.  

As this work continues over the coming weeks, be sure to stay tuned to www.KellerISD.net/Future for additional updates and answers to frequently asked questions.  

Keller ISD’s Long-Range Planning and Citizens Bond Advisory committees came together for the first of five joint meetings focused on planning for the district’s future. More than 120 community members — including parents, staff, and residents from across KISD — participated in the discussion. 

During the meeting, committee members learned more about the key challenges currently facing Keller ISD, including declining student enrollment, rising costs due to inflation and unfunded state mandates, and increased competition among alternative education options. 

Over the next several months, the committees will work together to explore ways to address these challenges. This includes developing criteria to evaluate potential campus consolidations to ensure the district is making the most effective use of its school buildings. The Citizens Bond Advisory Committee will also examine KISD’s facility needs and consider options for a future bond proposal, while the Long-Range Planning Committee will review the district’s academic and program priorities. 

Key takeaways from Wednesday’s meeting included: 

• Declining enrollment: Keller ISD has approximately 1,600 fewer students than last year and about 4,000 fewer students than five years ago. 
• School funding challenges: Texas ranks in the bottom 10 nationally for per-student funding and is one of only six states that funds schools based on daily attendance rather than enrollment. This means districts rarely receive the full amount of funding allocated by the state. 
• Unfunded mandates: Keller ISD spends approximately $52 million each year on state-required programs and services that are not fully funded by the state. 
• Budget reductions: Over the past three years, Keller ISD has reduced its budget by $57 million. 
• State-controlled revenue: While local property tax revenues may increase, the state reduces its contribution accordingly, limiting the district’s overall operating revenue. 
• Facility funding pressures: Operational funds are currently being used for facility repairs that could typically be covered by bond funds. For example, last semester the district spent more than $1.2 million in operating funds to replace failing HVAC units and rent temporary cooling units to keep classrooms comfortable. 

You can view the presentation shared at Wednesday’s meeting by clicking here. 

The dedication of these committee members is essential to ensuring Keller ISD can continue providing strong academic programs, safe learning environments, and responsible financial stewardship for its students – now and for generations to come. As this work continues, families are encouraged to visit www.KellerISD.net/Future for ongoing updates, meeting summaries, helpful resources, and answers to frequently asked questions. 

Thank you for staying engaged in this important conversation about the future of Keller ISD. 

Summary of Recommended Projects (by Campus) 

Below you will find agendas, notes, and copies of presentations from CBAC meetings: 

CBAC Meeting – July 16, 2019 

• Meeting Agenda 
• Meeting Minutes 
• Presentation of Recommended Projects to Board of Trustees 

CBAC Meeting – June 25, 2019 

• Meeting Agenda 
• Meeting Minutes 
• Slideshow Presentation 

CBAC Meeting – June 13, 2019 

• Slideshow Presentation 
• Meeting Minutes

CBAC Membership List