Our school district’s enrollment has increased from 1,348 students to 1,854 students in the last five years. This is an increase of 38% which is the highest percentage increase of all 81 school districts in the Waco region.
We discontinued accepting out of district transfer students over a year ago, with the following exceptions: children of employees, siblings of current transfer students, and children of active duty military or disabled veterans. While our transfer student enrollment has declined and will continue to do so, our resident student population is projected to increase another 939 students over the next ten years. We have a Long Range Facilities Planning Committee comprised of 58 parents, community members, and school district employees that have been working since September to develop a long range plan that addresses the facility needs of the district.
Our committee members have reviewed the results of the community survey and appreciate the valuable information provided by Salado ISD community members. The committee has refined the scope of work and cost of the projects that are under review for a possible May 2018 bond. The committee has developed three possible options to consider and would like to receive the community’s input in order to finalize their recommendation to the Board of Trustees.
Our school district’s financial capacity does not allow us to address all the classroom and extracurricular facility needs at this time. Thus, each of the three options address some of the facility needs while other needs would have to be addressed when the district has additional financial capacity, which would be at least ten years from now based on current projections.
We are conducting another community survey regarding these three options. The survey will be available through this Sunday, January 21. The survey is available online at the Salado ISD website at www.saladoisd.org and the Salado ISD Long Range Facilities Committee website at www.sisdfacilitiescommittee.org
The costs associated with the following project options are a turn-key amount which includes construction, furniture, equipment, technology, fees and permits.
All three plans include a connecting corridor at the elementary school and intermediate school. This would build hallways between the existing elementary school, kindergarten/1st grade wing, and intermediate school so that elementary school students don’t need to go outside to go between their classroom, the office/library/nurse’s office, and the cafeteria. This is an important improvement for student safety, which was the highest priority identified by the facilities committee.
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