Possible renovations to Miller Middle School were put on pause after the San Marcos Consolidated ISD Board of Trustees voted to put funding for the project on hold with the possibility of an upcoming bond election.
The board voted 5-2 to rescind the original vote that approved the use of $4.3 million for renovations at Miller Middle School during Monday’s regular meeting.
The trustees were set to discuss the Miller Middle School renovations, which the board approved 4-2 during its Oct. 17 meeting.
The previously approved funds were set to be used for four renovations at Miller Middle School — Renovation of existing gyms, renovations of existing locker rooms, athletic additions and athletic addition structural pond.
During the Oct. 17 meeting, San Marcos CISD Chief of Operations Bernie Sandoval clarified that the original cost for the renovations would have been $4,314,000 in 2017 when they weren’t included in the district’s 2017 bond. The cost for all the renovations would likely be higher now, Sandoval said.
Monday’s discussion was meant to surround what priorities should be given for the allocated $4.3 million, prior to the vote to rescind the previous decision.
The potential call for a bond election came up during Monday’s meeting amid a conversation comparing the fine arts facilities of Goodnight and Miller middle schools.
Sandoval was asked if district administration was working on a holistic facilities plan rather than comparing one campus to another.
“We’re at that point where we need to go and take a look at a facility assessment, capacity and figure out, ‘Do we want every campus to look alike? I mean, we want them to have equity is a better term than to say we want them to look alike,” Sandoval said.
When asked if he felt that calling for a bond election to address SMCISD’s needs was necessary, Sandoval said yes.
“I think we need [a bond] not just for the capacity but we’ve got old facilities out here that need a lot of work,” Sandoval said. “HVAC, for example, we’ve got a lot of work that needs to be done on HVAC. If we want to offer these programs that we’re talking about at Goodnight, we need to expand fine arts. If you ask coach [John] Walsh about turf at our field, it’s time for them to replace it. There’s just a lot of things that we need to accomplish. And to answer your question, yes, I think we need to consider [a bond], but it is a process. Y’all all know that, it is a process to go down that road.”
Sandoval added during his routine facilities update that SMCISD will issue a request for proposal for a facilities assessment. The district will review the facilities assessment and demographic information.
“Like I mentioned earlier, it’s probably time to start thinking about committee members. A good cross section of the community on who we would put together for a potential bond,” Sandoval said.
When the item regarding Miller Middle School came up for discussion, trustee Miguel Arredondo made the motion to rescind the board’s original vote to approve $4.3 million allocated for the renovations and postpone the renovations until the district considers a potential call for a bond.
The board approved the motion to rescind the vote, 5-2, with trustees Anne Halsey and Margie Villalpando voting in opposition.
To view the full meeting visit: https://www.youtube.com/@SanMarcosConsolidatedISD.
