Vote for Katy bonds

One of the fastest growing school districts in our state needs more schools.

Katy needs more schools. That simple fact becomes obvious to anybody who looks at the Katy Independent School District’s explosive growth. During the decade between 2005 and 2015, Katy ISD’s enrollment rose by a whopping 47 percent.

Take a deep dive into the numbers and you’ll discover another telling insight from the state comptroller’s office, which diligently tracks data on Texas school districts. Between 2006 and 2015, Katy ISD’s tax-supported debt per student actually declined by a little less than 1 percent.

Now one of the fastest growing school districts in Texas wants voters to authorize a bond issue allowing them to borrow another $609 million. Katy ISD officials have earnestly made a compelling case for passing this referendum. Even some longtime activists in the district who’ve opposed previous bond issues fully support this one. Voters should, too.

Most of the money — $448 million — will pay for a half-dozen new schools, including a new high school, two junior highs and three elementary campuses. Also on the line is a $21 million renovation of Fielder Elementary School, more than $50 million of work on 61 campuses and school facilities and almost $32 million for updating technology.

Maybe it should go without saying, but this proposal will not raise the district’s property tax rate. In fact, Katy ISD dropped its tax rate by a penny per $100 of valuation back in 2015. The people who run the schools in this fiscally conservative district are sticking to that lower number.

Katy ISD is what’s often referred to as a “destination district.” In other words, the schools have such a good reputation parents move there just to make their children eligible for enrollment. District officials brag they’ve earned the highest possible rating by the Texas Education Agency.

But the district has also come under criticism for spending a fortune on football. In 2013, Katy ISD proposed investing $99 million in a new football stadium, an eye-popping expenditure that made a lot of taxpayers choke on their corn flakes. That bond issue was shot down at the polls, so the district came back with a cheaper plan that was approved the following year. Still, some voters remain upset with the new stadium’s $70 million price tag.

What’s done is done, though, and Katy ISD voters who think the stadium was a waste of money shouldn’t take their resentment out on the district’s students. If this referendum fails, more and more pupils will have to crowd into existing campuses. Then the district will have to come back in another election cycle and ask for permission to borrow more money for more schools to handle the rapidly growing enrollment. As one opponent of the stadium bond issue succinctly told us, “Do we stop building schools because we’re pissed off that we lost an election?”

Asking voters to approve a bond issue after a disaster like Hurricane Harvey isn’t easy, but consider this surprising piece of data. Before Harvey hit, Katy ISD’s projected enrollment was 77,233 students. After the storm, more than 77,500 students walked through the doors on the first day of school. In other words, despite the biggest natural disaster in the community’s history, Katy ISD’s enrollment is still growing and defying expectations.

One other point voters should consider before casting their ballots on this bond issue: Interest rates are low. Just as it’s a good time to get a mortgage on a house, it’s a good time to borrow money to build schools.

And no doubt about it, Katy needs more schools. That’s why voters should cast their ballots in favor of the Katy ISD bond issue.