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McALLEN — After receiving a detailed facilities assessment report on every district campus, board members are now discussing possible bond election items and what would be the priorities for the school district’s proposed $335 million bond that officials say won’t include a tax rate increase.

McAllen ISD Superintendent René Gutiérrez said the meeting on Wednesday is going to be the first of several meetings reviewing all the facilities assessment reports and identifying priorities for the district.

The meeting included a PowerPoint presentation detailing a list of priority projects by each campus. Each list is broken down into categories of educational adequacy improvements, health and safety, modernization, site and infrastructure, and technology readiness.

The list is based on a facilities’ assessment by MGT, an education facilities consultant, which was presented at a town hall meeting on Oct 28. The report systematically looked at each building in the district’s age, infrastructure and other areas.

“It’s time to talk about what are those priorities and how we’re going to decide, as a board, with the facilities forecast advisory committee … and how we’re going to identify those top priorities so that we can put it together for the bond,” Gutiérrez said.

The superintendent said there may be up to seven propositions on the ballot for the district’s bond election.

Each bond represents a different usage of money as they will appear on an election ballot, such as the construction of a performing arts facility, school buildings, recreational facility, purchase of new school buses and updating technology equipment.

From the list of priorities, district-wide needs range from roofing renovations, HVAC upgrades, LED lighting conversions and parking lot resurfacing and expansion.

Other priorities across the district are safety and security enhancements, fire alarm replacements and electrical system upgrades.

Major projects in the lists include classroom wing additions at Morris Middle school and Gonzalez and Milam elementary schools. The plan is to remove outdated portable buildings at these campuses and construct new classroom wings.

Other major projects include modernization and remodels At McHi, Memorial and Rowe high schools, construction of a CTE Center, a Performing Arts Center, cafeterias remodels and gym enclosures.

At the end of the presentation, it gave the public a timeline of the bond election process and the next steps for the district.

Over the next couple of months, the district will continue to host meetings to pinpoint and prioritize the projects that will be included in the $335 million bond, which will be recommended to the board around Dec. 9 or Jan. 13, according to the timeline.

“At some point we need to finalize the projects with schematics with cost to package this all together,” Gutiérrez said. “Where are the projects going to be, what projects are going to be done, the design schematics and the costs.”

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