Residents who live in Calallen will soon be able to have a say on the school districts $67.7 million bond proposal.
Calallen has a long rich history of producing winning teams on the football field. Something that also runs true on the baseball diamond as Calallen baseball Coach Steve Chapman has led the district to three state titles.
District officials are looking at putting in artificial turf at the high school softball and baseball fields.
The bond is also looking to cover needed renovations and upgrades at all the schools, including a brand new performing arts center at the high school.
Calallen Superintendent Emily Lorenz said that residents would see a noticeable increase if the propositions were passed.
"The average home cost in Calallen ISD is about $175,000 a year. So, at an average home price if both prop A and prop B passed, it would be approximately $5.85 a month for both propositions and a little over $70 a year increase," she said.
Voters do have the choice to vote for proposition B, which is a little over $12 million of that $67.7 million bond.
The remaining $55 million makes up proposition A, which includes work at all of the schools, whether it's through upgrades or renovations. The district is also looking to spend $5.5 million on safety and security projects, like replacing all of the fencing at the schools.
"The safety and security improvements are those that would take us to the highest standards that are being proposed by the Texas Education Agency. We've already invested over $1.4 million this year alone on our campus safety and security," she said.
One of the biggest ticket items is a proposed new performing arts facility. The new performing arts center wwould sit right behind the band hall. Calallen band Director Jeff Valperts said that the new center would be an move in the right direction.
"The opportunity to have a fine arts center that could be the jewel of the district potentially that would house, you know, our bands who perform there, our high school bands, the middle school bands could perform there," he said. "All of the elementary and intermediate and fine arts guys would perform there."
Early voting will run from April 24 to May 2. The election is set for May 6.