HAYS COUNTY, Texas -- Vocational training can spark high school students’ interests.

• Two bond propositions
• Both focus on new construction and rennovations

But some of the popular, hands-on education in John C. Hays High School might not be offered at Lehman High School.

“We don’t have enough seats available at Hays to afford Lehman students the opportunity to take auto tech,” said Michael McKie, the superintendent of Hays Consolidated Independent School district. 

Bond proposals worth a combined quarter of a billion dollars are addressing Hays CISD growth and equity.

“When you look at these career pathways, it’s important that we afford all over our students the same experiences and the same opportunities,” McKie said.

Meeting the district's mission has not been easy and both of the high schools are over their functional capacity.

“We have teachers sharing rooms, we have had to schedule classes creatively so we have rooms that are open at times so that we could place staff members and students there," said David Pierce, principal of John C. Hays High School. "It’s a balancing act, it’s something that we’ve had to do, it’s one of the challenges that comes with growth.”

At the primary level, some classes are held in temporary buildings.

Proposition 1 seeks to:

• Build high school
• Build two elementary schools

Proposition 2 seeks to:
• Upgrades facilities and equipment to expand career and technical education and fine arts
• Renovate libraries and refresh collection
• Add bleachers, light and score boards to athletic fields
• Construct baseball/softball complex
• Construct transportation center
• Upgrade technology and security/surveillance

One of the proposed elementary schools will replace Buda Elementary School. While it is not currently overpopulated, the building faces problems of its own. The lower campus is located down a hill closer to Onion Creek, and it has flooded twice since October 2013. The school is also one of the oldest in Hays CISD’s 50 year history. In the next 50, experts predict enrollment across the board will more than double to almost 42,000.

"In Hays CISD we’re a destination school district," McKie said. "We want people to move here.”

No tax rate change is proposed for the  bond. If approved, the three new schools will be open by September 2019. For full details visit hayscisd.net/bond2017.