Dallas ISD employees could earn a little extra if they stick around.

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Dallas ISD is asking voters to approve a record $6.2 billion bond package in May with an emphasis on new facilities and renovations.

The district’s last bond election in 2020 also came with a then-record request of $3.2 billion, but that package didn’t include a tax increase like the one trustees unanimously placed on the ballot in February. If approved by voters, the nearly $6 billion proposition for facility upgrades will fund 26 replacement schools, up from 16 in 2020, and allocate close to $2.5 billion for district-wide renovations.

Of the 253 renovation or replacement projects included in the 2020 bond package, more than 120 are nearing completion or have already been completed, with 97 still under construction, according to the 2020 bond dashboard. Some haven’t even broken ground yet, with the dashboard showing that 50 are still in the permitting or design phase, but overlapping bond cycles are largely regarded as standard in districts like Dallas, the second-largest in the state by enrollment.

Officials say the bond is necessary to replace aging infrastructure, as the average age of a Dallas ISD campus hovers around 42 years, which would drop to around 33 years if all projects outlined in the proposed bond are completed, as previously reported by D Magazine. 

One of the largest schools identified for replacement is W.W. Samuell High School in Pleasant Grove, which opened in 1957, according to the school’s alumni group. The 2020 bond package allocated nearly $30 million for school projects that have yet to be completed, according to the bond dashboard.

Facilities upgrades would also phase out the roughly 700 portable classrooms and learning facilities currently used by roughly 10,000 students, contingent on voter approval. 

Slated to go to the voters on May 2, the package includes a reduced request for technology ($144.7 million) compared to 2020, when voters approved $270 million for purchases and upgrades as digital learning came to the forefront with COVID lockdowns. Along with bond funding, the district has used over $50 million for device expansion and $30.5 million for software in federal COVID relief funding since the last bond.

The remaining propositions ask voters to approve over $140 million for debt service obligations and $26.2 million for district pool facility renovations.

Dallas ISD leadership is asking for a 1-cent increase in the property tax rate. For context, that would increase taxes on a property valued at around $500,000 by roughly $33.48 per year. Property owners in DISD zones currently pay the lowest tax rate among the 10 largest school districts in Texas, and the rate has remained largely unchanged since 2019 rate cuts.