Why did the C-FB ISD Board call this bond election?

1. provide additional classrooms for more students
2. modernize older facilities
3. upgrade and expand technology for students and teachers
4. complete master renovation plans at R. L. Turner and Newman Smith High Schools
5. provide additional safety and security devices at all district campuses.

Project list and costs

After reviewing the committee’s recommendations and a community survey of registered voters, the Board of Trustees determined that the top three priority levels would meet the district’s needs for six to eight years. On July 24, 2003, the C-FB ISD Board of Trustees unanimously voted to call the $300.165 million bond referendum.

• This referendum includes completing Ranchview High School, which was built out of 1998 bond dollars. The district designed this high school to be built in two phases. Phase one included classroom space for 1,000 students and such core facilities as the cafeteria, library, and gymnasiums. Phase two, which is part of 2003 referendum, includes the second classroom wing, which will expand the building’s capacity to over 2,000, a theatre and completion of athletic facilities.
• The master plans for R.L. Turner and Newman Smith High Schools will be completed with this referendum. Because of the magnitude of these two projects, the 1998 Citizens Committee recommended that the projects be divided into two phases. Phase 1 of both plans was completed with 1998 bond referendum funds.
• With continued growth in the Creekview High School attendance zone, funds are included to expand and improve those facilities.
• Charles M. Blalack Middle School will receive substantial improvements in several areas while classroom space will be added to Barbara Bush, DeWitt Perry and Ted Polk Middle Schools. Vivian Field and Dan F. Long Middle Schools will experience minor improvements since extensive renovations were completed in 2002 at both schools and were funded by the 1998 referendum.

• Eight elementary schools (L. F. Blanton, Country Place, Farmers Branch, R. E. Good, L. P. Montgomery, Rosemeade, Janie Stark and June R. Thompson) will receive major upgrades and additions. These buildings have been in operation an average of 34.5 years, with L. P. Montgomery opening in 1955 and R. E. Good in 1957.
• Smaller classroom additions will occur at seven other elementary schools (Furneaux, Tom Landry, Charlie McKamy, Kathyrn S. McWhorter, Riverchase, Donald H. Sheffield Primary and Intermediate) while minor renovations will happen at E. L. Kent, Neil Ray McLaughlin and McCoy Elementary Schools.
• Projects at Dave Blair Intermediate School, Carrollton, Central, Dale B. Davis,
  Las Colinas, and Annie Heads Rainwater Elementary Schools will make minor improvements as well as enhance safety and security.

• The district continues to see growth in the pre-kindergarten program for four-year-olds who are either limited English proficient or economically disadvantaged. From 1998-99 to 2003-04, the district has added 200 more pre-kindergartners, which is a 23% increase. As a result, the district needs additional classroom space designed for four-year-olds. Two facilities that accommodate only the pre-kindergarten program allow the district to focus on the unique development needs of four-year-olds. The arrangement will minimize transportation of these young children and maximize faculty certification requirements.Two pre-kindergarten facilities can provide a quality individualized instructional program for four-year-olds without the restraints of a traditional kindergarten through grade five setting. The elementary campuses currently with pre-kindergarten classes will have additional available space when the four-year-olds move to the two centers.
• To address current and future space needs at the six elementary schools south of Beltline Road, a new elementary school is included.

• Currently, 15,000 computers are in operation, and the district has a defined refresh cycle based on how the equipment is used. For example, teacher workstations are upgraded every three years.
• Using technology as an instructional tool is a key C-FB ISD goal, and the proposed enhancements include a projection system (a data projector and document camera) for every district classroom, and wireless technology, including mobile computer labs.

• C-FB ISD like other districts has a maintenance and operating (M&0) tax rate and a debt service tax rate. The maintenance and operating tax rate funds annual operating expenses (salaries, utilities, etc.) while the debt service taxes pay off school bonds.
• As a Chapter 41 school district, C-FB ISD is required to send money to the state through the “Robin Hood” school finance plan. The annual operating expenses are funded by the M&O rate, which are limited and subject to recapture under “Robin Hood.” C-FB ISD sends 30 cents out of every dollar of its maintenance and operating budget to the state through the “Robin Hood” school finance plan.
• Tax dollars collected for debt service are excluded from the “Robin Hood” provisions; that means that every dollar spent through the debt service fund remains totally in the district. If the district paid for capital improvement projects out of the regular annual maintenance and operating budget, additional local money would be sent to the state and funding for teacher salaries and other operating costs would be reduced.

• This growth would fill about six elementary schools or four middle schools. The district sees no end to the growth. Harner and Associates, a well-known demographics research firm, tells the district that student enrollment may climb to 34,482 by 2010, which is more than 8,000 students. The research firm has analyzed C-FB ISD’s enrollment patterns since 1998, and its data closely matches the district’s Research Department prior estimates, including the lowest, mid-range, and highest anticipated enrollments.

Completed projects

• Construction of Riverchase and Kathryn S. McWhorter Elementary Schools, Dave Blair Intermediate, Ranchview High School (Phase 1)
• Phase 1 of Newman Smith and R. L. Turner High Schools renovations
• Major renovations and additions to Vivian Field and Dan F. Long Middle Schools, Carrollton, Central, Dale B. Davis, Farmers Branch, Neil Ray McLaughlin, Las Colinas Elementary Schools
• Air-conditioning of elementary gymnasiums
• Technology upgrades for all campuses, including a district-wide fiber optic network that provides Internet connections in all classrooms and access to voice, video, and data; with the fiber optic network, the district has reduced telephone expenses
• The Technology Learning Center that supports individual schools and district-wide technology operations
• Other projects including roof and parking lot repairs, refrigerator and freezer replacements, and heating/air-conditioning systems.

C-FB ISD Public Information Office
1445 North Perry Road
Carrollton, TX 75006
972-968-6105

cfbinfo@cfbisd.edu