WATCH: School bonds on ballot

• School bonds on ballot
• Chapel Hill ISD’s bond include a new elementary gym. The current gym, which was built in the early 1950s, is showing signs of deterioration.
• Hart Bluff ISD’s bond includes an expansion to their Little Red Schoolhouse, which would add seven classrooms and an administration space. It also includes a high school expansion, cafeteria expansion gymnasium expansion, and more. TRIBUNE PHOTOS / NICOLE KIMBALL
• COURTESY PHOTO

If you’re heading out to cast your vote on Election Day, some of the big decisions on the ballot that may affect your taxes are a few school bonds.

Chapel Hill and Harts Bluff ISD have put out several bonds on the ballot in the past, but were not passed. If you still aren’t sure what the bonds cover, here’s everything you need to know:

Chapel Hill ISD bond, Proposition A Elementary upgrades • Add 6 early childhood classrooms

• New elementary gym

• Playground accessible bathrooms • Add 120 new seats for the early childhood classrooms.

Ag mech expansion

• Add classroom

• Add safety showers & restrooms

• Area for metal processing

Junior High Secure Entrance and Access to The Well

A common concern from Mount Pleasant residents is how the bond would impact them, the taxpayers.

Daniel Pritchett, superintendent of Chapel Hill ISD, said, “0.099 cents is the current tax impact of the proposed bond. When you calculate that for a $200,000 home, you’d see a monthly increase of $8.25 a month, or $99 a year.”

Additionally, if you are over the age of 65, Proposition A won’t cost you more than your frozen tax dollar amount.

Pritchett said this bond would not only make more space, but also be safer for the students, “Right now, we do not have a secure entrance for the junior high. It is actually located in the middle of our campus, so any parents coming to pick up a kid or drop off a kid, they’re basically coming to the high school, checking in there and then they go down to the junior high through the campus to check in.”

After the 2023 bond was struck down last year, a dozen residents in the Mt. Pleasant area formed a political action committee in hopes of helping people better understand what these bonds cover. Chairperson of the committee, Trent Abbott, said, “This isn’t a want, it’s a need. As the son of an educator, we have to invest in our schools. If we don’t have strong schools, we don’t have a strong community.”

On Election Day, May 4, you can vote for or against Proposition A at various locations, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Those locations are as follows:

• Cookville FireStation: 814 CR 4045,Cookville, TX

• NTCC Wesley Fellowship: 2886 FM 1735, Mt. Pleasant, TX

• Titus County Courthouse Annex: 105 W. 1st St, Mt. Pleasant, TX

• Living Truth Fellowship Church: 523 Dunn Ave, Mt. Pleasant, TX

The other school bond up for voting is for Harts Bluff ISD. This bond is split into five propositions. Each one covers multiple facilities to make space for students and faculty.

Proposition A: High school expansion

• Adds 9 classrooms, 2 science labs, computer lab, media center, & counseling offices

• Cost: $6.6 million

• Tax impact: 13.82 cents

Proposition B: cafeteria expansion

• Expands dining area inside & outside, adds kitchen space with new entrance

• Cost: $1.4 million

• Tax impact: 2.93 cents

Proposition C: gymnasium expansion

• Additional game court, seating, & locker room

• Cost: $6 million

• Tax impact: 12.57 cents

Proposition D: fine arts room • Adds a choir room

• Cost: $1.1 million

• Tax impact: 2.31 cents

Proposition E: Little Red Schoolhouse expansion • Adds 7 classrooms & administration space

• Cost: $4 million

• Tax impact: 8.37 cents Superintendent of Harts Bluff ISD, Dr. Bobby Rice, said, “We have a really nice facility, it’s just the space that’s an issue. We have teachers that have to share classrooms and sometimes it’s a struggle to provide the space they need. In the cafeteria, we’re in the process of adding a freezer outside. There’s just not enough place in the kitchen to store food.”

If all five propositions pass, the total cost would be $19.1 million and the total tax impact would be 40 cents. If you are 65 or over, there is no tax impact over your frozen amount.

Dr. Rice said there is a bond calculator at www. hbisd.net. If you enter your home value, it can calculate how much the bond would impact your taxes. He expressed that he hopes the bond will pass, because he thinks it will genuinely help the community in the longrun, “The board members and myself, we all live in Harts Bluff ISD. I know this is a tax increase, but we’re not trying to put it off on someone else. It affects all of us, but I think it’s the right thing to do for the kids.”

On May 4, you can vote for or against the Harts Bluff ISD bond at the Civic Center, 1800 N. Jefferson Avenue in Mt. Pleasant.