Athens ISD calls for $121.5M bond

ATHENS — Athens ISD board of trustees voted on Feb. 13 to call a $121.5 million bond election to address aging facilities by making improvements and new additions to educational spaces, according to our news partners at KETK. According to Athens ISD Superintendent Dr. Janie Sims, in Spring of 2024 the board of trustees came up with four goals for the district: academic excellence, exemplary employees, safe schools and the resources for students to succeed. From there, the board invited community members including teachers, parents and high school students to participate in a committee to talk about the four goals for the district and the needs for each campus.

The board used the committee’s list of proposed ideas to create the bill that would address the district goals and impact each student from early childhood to early college.

“After getting the report from the facilities committee, we spent many hours in workshop meetings discussing what we might cut from their recommendations,” Board President Alicea Elliott said. “The answer was ‘nothing’; we couldn’t in good conscious sacrifice one thing we believe our students truly need — especially when it won’t cause a single penny of increase to our tax rate.”

According to Sims, there will be no increase in the AISD tax rate if the bond passes due to their “strong credit rate and historically conservative leadership” within their board of trustees.

“We want Athens ISD to be the educational heart of East Texas and in order to achieve that we need to address our facilities,” Sims said.

The proposed projects on the bill include:

A new early childhood center for all preK-3, preK-4 and kindergarten students
New wing at Athens High School to accommodate early college students
New auditorium at AHS
Renovations to the AHS library
Ag science barn
New drop-off/pick-up driveway behind Athens Middle School
New CTE classroom for 8th grade construction students
Covered activity center at AHS
Renovations at South Athens, Bel Air and Central Athens Elementary

Sims says she would not be doing her job correctly as superintendent if she is not looking at the future of the district and to make it a place where all students can prosper.
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“A place where we can say that we have worked hard to address the needs of every child in every program whether it’s athletics, fine arts or early learning.” Sims said.

The district said that an informational website and printed materials are being developed to explain the bond package more in detail. Early voting begins April 22 and ends April 29 with election day on May 3.