LUMBERTON, Texas — $78 million dollars is on the line for the Lumberton Independent School District this November.
Voting is underway for Proposition A, which was approved by the Lumberton ISD Board of Trustees in August.
The money, according to the district, will be used to renovate classrooms, upgrade security throughout the district and parking improvements.
More than half of the money from the bond is allocated to go toward re-purposing the existing Intermediate School into new Middle School for grades 6, 7, and 8, additions/renovations to the existing middle school, and additions/renovations to the early childhood campus.
"The middle school is 52 years old," the district explained in literature about the proposed bond. "As building age, they become more expensive to maintain. After reviewing these factors, the CAC (Citizens Advisory Committee) recommended replacing the oldest portion of the campus with new construction."
Nearly $13 million dollars is expected to go to adding a Career and Technology building at Lumberton High School. This includes new robotics, nursing, culinary arts, criminal justice and welding labs.
The district is also planning to use $7.5 million to renovate the Early Childhood campus. There is also money set aside for parking and traffic improvements at school campuses.
The district says money from the bond is also needed to deal with overcrowding across the district. The district says 200 students have been added to the district in the past five years and 300 more are projected to be added over the next five five years.
The Lumberton ISD Board of Trustees voted 5-1 to place the bond on the November ballot. Read Notice of Election Here.
Early voting is underway through November 1. Election day is Tuesday, November 5.
Proposition A as it appears on the ballot:
The issuance of $78,800,000 of Lumberton School District unlimited tax school building bonds and levying the tax in payment thereof to pay for and finance the construction and equipping of new school buildings and the renovation, upgrades, expansion and equipping of existing school buildings, including, but not limited to, additions and renovations to the existing early childhood campus, demolition of buildings, constructing and equipping traffic circulation improvements at the Primary School and Intermediate School, converting Intermediate School to Middle School including constructing and equipping of a Middle School music building together with renovations upgrades and additions to both the Middle School and Intermediate School and demolition of a portion of the existing Middle School, addition of a career and technology building, renovations, upgrades and additions to safety and security, parking lot improvements and infrastructure improvements throughout the District.
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