BEXAR COUNTY, TX – Spanning southeast Bexar County from Lake Victor Braunig to Interstate 10 and Loop 1604, East Central ISD has plenty of open space, although it fills up quickly.

“Before, there was only agricultural land here. Now there’s a lot of houses, a lot of it,” said St. Hedwig resident Kim Rollins.

The new subdivisions that have emerged have already helped increase East Central ISD’s enrollment by about 2,100 students over the past decade, to the projected 11,920 for the current year.

But that’s nothing compared to the growth the neighborhood is preparing for over the next nine years. It plans to more than double its enrollment to reach 25,617 students by the 2033-2034 school year.

Faced with this explosive growth, the district is asking voters to greenlight the construction of a second high school for $198.9 million and two new elementary schools, at a cost of $50.6 million and 49 .7 million dollars.

Proposal Bthe total bond amount of $331.1 million, one of four ECISD proposals on district voters’ ballots, also includes money for renovation and expansion of East Central High School’s agricultural facilities, a new high school gymnasium and $4 million for additional fields to ‘purchase land for future campuses.

This request comes after voters already approved a $240 million bond package in 2022 this included the construction of a new middle school and two new elementary schools.

East Central ISD spokesperson Brandon Oliver told KSAT the district expects it will have to return to the polls after the 2020 bond election.

“We heard our community,” he said. “I mean, they wanted a new high school, but according to the demographers we would get to 120 percent occupancy in the elementary schools first. So the first necessity was to address this problem and also give us a third college to reduce this congestion.

As for whether the buildings planned in the 2024 bond will be enough to accommodate more than 25,600 students expected in nine years, Oliver said, “It’s supposed to accommodate the expected growth. But you know, as we move forward, we might, after looking at the facilities, need additional space.

ECISD planning is based on work done by a College Station-based demographer, Population and Survey Analysts (PASA).

In a spring 2024 For the district, PASA projects there will be nearly 44,600 additional housing occupancies in October 2033 compared to last fall.

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The neighborhood has four bond proposals on the ballot.

Accessories C and D are also bond packages, but intended for sports facilities. Accessory C would be earmarked for a $10 million renovation of East Central High School’s Hornet Stadium, while the $18.9 million Accessory D would improve baseball and softball facilities as well as renovate the tennis building and construct new courts.

Proposal Ahowever, would ratify the new higher tax rate the school board has already set for the budget year. The money would pay for higher salaries for teachers, pay for additional police officers and cover additional security measures.

The $6.6 million change to the district’s annual budget from Prop A includes $2.8 million the district expects to receive from the state.

In total, the district says the four proposals would cost the average ECISD homeowner $378 a year in additional property taxes.