On Monday night, August 14, the Howe ISD Board of Trustees approved a motion to call for a bond election on November 7 of this year for a new Pre-K through second-grade campus to be located on a proposed location at Hall Cemetery Road near Western Hills. The bond amount will be $17 million. The campus will have a student area of 750 students with a classroom area of 400 students which is roughly the size of the current elementary school.
In previous meetings, the community facilities committee, after hearing all options from consultants, gave the recommendation to the board of razing the 1938 WPA former school structure located at the administration office. On that small four-acre lot, the only viable option was for a two-story intermediate school that would house grades third through fifth. However, recently a land developer has approached Howe ISD with a proposed land transaction from west of Western Hills to a now proposed 12-acre area just east of Western Hills on Hall Cemetery Road. The swap of allocated property was crucial due to utilities, such as water and sewer which are available on the new allocated property.
If Howe ISD voters approve the $17 million bond in November, work will proceed towards construction in the spring of 2018 and the new school would be scheduled to open in August of 2019. Should the bond fail, the elementary and middle school campuses will have to add multiple portable buildings on the site, presumably on Highway 75, in order to accommodate the overgrowth of the campus. A new full-scale elementary school was not an option due to the approximate $25 million cost being more than the current ISD’s bond capacity.
