Bond election win will support schools

Dear SMCISD Community, I am writing to express my support for the SMCISD May bond election. I believe that this bond is essential to the future of our school district and the community as a whole.

On the ballot, voters will be presented with several propositions and I would urge you to vote yes to all four. Proposition A is concerned with “recapture” and we must pass this proposition to keep all of the area we currently hold for property tax revenue. If we do not collect this the state will claim and never return to us a portion of our taxable properties. This has occurred because of our rising property values disproportionate to our school district’s attendance growth. This is not the fault of the school district but we must protect the tax base that supports the educational resources for our children in SMCISD.

Proposition B will provide funding for the construction of a replacement campus for Mendez Elementary, renovations to other existing schools, and the purchase of new school buses, among other things. The renovations to existing schools will address critical safety and security issues, new campus entry at Hernandez Elementary, a functional parent pickup lane at Bonham School that will move the line of cars during pickup off of Hwy 123. The bond will also resource fine arts spaces at our middle schools and high school campuses for growing programs like Mariachi and band. When we pass this bond we will also be adding more useable classroom space to the high school campus, adding life to existing AC units across the district and making preparations for future growth in our school district. This is the cost of having and maintaining a school district with 8500 students.

I am absolutely convinced that the renovations to our elementary schools and the replacement campus for Mendez are essential going forward and that the district has been a good steward of the citizen’s good faith across the years by coming in under budget with the 2017 bond and keeping the school tax rate lower than the comparable area districts. This bond will also include Proposition C for maintenance on the high school stadium and field and Proposition D for a new natatorium which both lend themselves to making San Marcos CISD a competitive school district. When we are competitive we stand a better chance of recruiting and holding on to talented educators, drawing and maintaining strong family and neighborhood support for schools and doing an overall better job of educating our children.

I urge you to vote yes on the SMCISD May 6th bond election. This bond is an investment in our children and our future. For more information, please visit smcisd.net/ bond2023. Sincerely, Michael Pigg