Frisco school officials are reaching out to residents and district staff to get their thoughts on the bond propositions voters rejected earlier this year.
Frisco ISD went to voters with four propositions — three bonds amounting to more than $1 billion and a tax rate hike for teacher raises. All four were voted down.
The school opened an 18-question online survey last week to gather people’s thoughts on the bond election, including how they voted on each proposition. It also asks what the district should prioritize when considering future bonds. The survey will remain open through noon on Jan. 5, according to the district website.
“This survey will help Frisco ISD better understand the community’s perceptions about the bond. Stakeholder feedback is a critical piece of the puzzle as Frisco ISD determines next steps,” the district said in a statement published on its website.
Proposition B was the largest of the five-year bond proposals — $986 million — and included plans for a $102.3 million replacement campus for Staley Middle School. About 52% of voters in Collin and Denton counties rejected the proposition.
Improvements for Staley had been planned in a 2018 bond, but Frisco ISD officials told The Dallas Morning News the current building needed significant work that couldn’t be done while students were in classes.
About $20 million of the 2018 bond funds would have been used to renovate the current building, which school officials planned to repurpose for special education programs.
School officials also asked voters to approve about $569 million to upgrade 20 schools nearing or older than 25 years. The money also would have paid for districtwide upgrades, such as HVAC and plumbing improvements.
Proposition C included $88.2 million for districtwide technology upgrades and expanded Wi-Fi capabilities at campuses, and Proposition D asked $11.2 million to fund a new tennis center.
Proposition C failed, only garnering about 43% support from voters in Collin and Denton counties, and less than 30% of voters in both counties supported the new tennis center.
The bonds would not have resulted in a tax increase, according to the district.
Frisco ISD’s post-election survey does not ask residents’ thoughts on Proposition A, which would have raised the maintenance and operations portion of the Frisco ISD tax rate by $0.0294 and brought the overall rate to $1.0569 per $100 of property valuation.
School officials said the hike would have resulted in $11 million for the district to cover budget shortfalls taken on to boost teacher salaries.
When calculated with average property appraisals from the Collin Central Appraisal District, an analysis by The News showed the annual increase for a homeowner would have been about $155. In Denton County, the average homeowner would have seen about a $145 increase in property taxes.
In an interview with The News earlier this year, Frisco schools Superintendent Mike Waldrip said the district faces escalating costs amid inflation.
He also said the district’s plateauing student population was putting stress on the district’s finances. The tax rate increase was “the only thing that’s available” for the district to generate additional revenue, Waldrip has said.
Earlier this year, Frisco school trustees adopted a budget with a $30.8 million shortfall to fund 3% salary raises for teachers. Starting in the 2025-26 school year, Frisco ISD will allow students from outside of the district’s attendance zones to apply to attend one of its 16 campuses.
The new program, Access Frisco, is available for students in kindergarten through seventh grades.
The district expects to generate about $750,000 per 100 students who enroll through the program, Kimberly Smith, chief finance and strategy officer, said in a Nov. 18 news release.
“We are interested in how we can move forward with district needs that would have been covered by the bond. That’s what this survey is about,” a spokesperson for the district said when asked about the decision not to include the tax rate hike in the survey.
