(Texas Scorecard) – Trustees in Allen Independent School District are asking voters to approve a $447 million bond package on the November ballot that with interest would cost local property taxpayers more than $700 million.
That total price tag is based on the district’s own calculations, which are included in a state-mandated voter information document.
The bond package includes three separate propositions:
Proposition A: $419 million ($681 million with interest) would be spent primarily on renovating existing facilities.
The bond includes projects such as “purposeful redesign of learning spaces” and “geothermal conversion to increase utility efficiencies,” fixing foundations and roofs, repairing mechanical/electrical/plumbing systems, and buying new buses.
The district also plans to spend some of the bond money on a new “multi-purpose” complex at Allen High School that would include “120 yards of simultaneous-use space” (an indoor practice field), locker rooms, training/recovery areas, and lecture-style classrooms.
By including classrooms in the complex, the district skirted a state law requiring bonds for athletic facilities to be placed in separate ballot propositions.
Tax dollars would also be spent resurfacing the Lowery Freshman Center’s tennis courts, installing tiered seating for viewing, and adding pickleball striping to the courts, which would be available to the community.
Proposition B: $5.3 million ($6.1 million with interest) would pay for new track surfaces at two campuses, Lowery and Curtis Middle School.
Proposition C: $23 million ($25 million with interest) would be used to buy new technology devices, including a Chromebook for every student.
With interest, the three bonds would cost local property taxpayers $712 million—60 percent more than the amounts voters will see on the ballot.
While the full cost is not disclosed on the ballot, state law requires school districts to warn voters of the tax impact of bonds by including the ballot language, “THIS IS A PROPERTY TAX INCREASE.”
All bond propositions authorize the collection of property taxes “sufficient, without limit as to rate or amount, to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds.”
That means the district can raise the debt tax rate at any time in the future without further voter approval. Even if the tax rate does not immediately increase, rising property values will result in higher tax bills. Regardless of tax rates at any given time, the total tax burden on district property owners is increased by the amount of the bond debt plus the interest.
Allen ISD property taxpayers are currently on the hook for $872 million in bond debt principal and interest, according to the district’s information.
District officials have spent an undisclosed amount of taxpayers’ money promoting the bonds—including a dedicated bond website, videos, mailers, and large signs posted on school campuses.
State law prohibits spending school resources on political advertising that supports a ballot issue, but district officials maintain that their tax-funded “information” is not electioneering.
A political action committee, Vote For Allen ISD PAC, is also promoting the bonds.
“Looks like their signs should say Vote FOR Allen ISD BOND CONTRACTORS,” Allen resident Stacy Wilson posted on social media with the PAC’s campaign finance reports.
Most of the pro-school bond PAC’s “pledged contributions” come from construction and design companies that stand to benefit from the bond-funded projects.
Contributions as of September 26 include $10,000 from EMA Engineering & Consulting; $5,000 each from Basden Steel Corp. and Miller Sierra Contractors; $3,334 from HVAC company John Cook & Associates; $2,500 each from DMG Masonry, Gentler Electrical Services, and Sizelove Constructions; and $1,000 each from 3D Mechanical Plumbing and Webb Builders Hardware.
“Special interests with no care for the taxpayers’ ability to pay the taxes,” added Wilson. “Shameful.”
We The People Allen, a group of local conservative activists, opposes the bonds and has distributed “Vote NO” signs.
“When the bonds fail, the school board can come back next year with a more reasonable proposition,” the group posted on social media.
Allen ISD has about 21,000 students and more than 20 campuses. In 2023, trustees closed two elementary schools due to declining enrollment. The suburban school district north of Dallas is best known for building the state’s first megamillion-dollar football stadium.
Voters barely approved Allen ISD’s last big bond proposition in November 2020, after soundly rejecting a $422 million bond in May 2019.
The 2024 school bond propositions will be at the bottom of Allen ISD voters’ ballot.
Early voting in the bond election runs from October 21 through November 1. Election Day is Tuesday, November 5.