The Lampasas ISD Board of Trustees is yet to nail down the details of propositions that will be featured in a May 2026 bond election after discussion in Monday’s regular school board meeting.
While a new Lampasas Middle School campus remains the focus, trustees mulled the growing costs and if a multipurpose facility at Lampasas High School should be included in a bond package.
Trustees Sam Walker and Jeff Rutland were absent from this week’s proceedings.
LISD has earmarked approximately $95.9 million for a new middle school campus that will offer a competition football field. Other costs for the new campus include $1.5 million to make the competition field have turf and another $1.5 million to demolish the existing middle school buildings.
During Monday’s talks, Board President Ryan Shahan expressed concern with the escalating construction costs for a new middle school. During initial conversations, board members anticipated a cost around $85 million for the new facility.
“It seems like the cost estimate on the middle school has changed, at least through discussion,” Shahan said. “I don’t know if we have seen anything concrete on the estimate. We have just used $510 a [square] foot for construction costs, add 20% for soft [costs] and 10% for inflation.”
Justin Huling, the district’s construction manager at risk for the bond project, joined Monday’s meeting remotely. The American Constructors director emphasized that LISD is still a long way from having a concrete cost on the new campus.
“When you are bond planning, you are still pretty high level, and until you get that programming wrapped up and maybe even a design concept developed, that is where you can at least start to get the numbers into the funnel where they can get dialed down a little bit better,” Huling said.
With the middle school cost approaching $100 million, Shahan pondered what that could mean for other bond projects that might be sought.
“If we are looking at $100 million for things we want to do at the middle school, including the competition field, do we want to go that high and do all that right now? Then what does that make our other props look like?” Shahan asked the board.
The middle school price of $95.9 million would be built for a functional capacity of 1,087 students. Currently, LMS has an enrollment of 800 students. Trustee Randy Morris said that Walker had been working with WRA Architect’s Education Planner Kelly Trompler to develop a plan with a functional capacity of 1,200 students.
“I’m kind of scared to see what that number is going to be like after we raise the functional capacity to what we were originally shooting for,” Morris said.
Superintendent Dr. Chane Rascoe told trustees that the 1,087 functional capacity was developed by looking at the demographic study provided to the district in 2023 by Zonda Education. The study estimated LMS would have an enrollment of 968 students by the 2033-2034 school year, “The board can build it however big you want. I just wouldn’t recommend it off subjective data of us just trying to figure it out,” Rascoe said. “We were going off the hardline data from the demographic study.”
The superintendent also advised trustees to consider how long the new LMS campus may be utilized.
“If it is as long as this building, you probably need to build it out another 40 years,” Rascoe said. “It wouldn’t hurt to build it bigger.”
MULTI-PURPOSE FACILITY Trustees continued to ponder the addition of a multi-purpose facility to the district’s bond proposal.
WRA Architect’s Justin Bell was at Monday’s meeting to present a possible multi-purpose facility scenario. Bell showcased a 61,470-square-foot facility that would feature a 60-yard turf field with end zones, sufficient locker room space and a meeting room. Cost would be $26.65 million.
The facility would not include a band hall, as had been mentioned previously.
Rascoe said LHS Principal Paul Wehneimer, Badger Band Director Eduardo Zambrano and Athletic Director Troy Rogers had concerns regarding a combineduse facility. Instead, the Badger Band would prefer to include a $1.5 million covered pavilion on the paved area where the band currently practices.
Shahan pointed out that what had been considered a multi-purpose facility is now becoming strictly an “athletic” center. The board president pitched the idea of upgrading the current fieldhouse with a possible 6,000-square-foot extension on the south side of the building to provide more space to other sports.
“That weight room and workout area, they have outgrown it,” Shahan said. “Wrestling has been a sport a lot of kids are gravitating to. Right now, they roll out mats and roll them back up every day. Something we could look at to tackle the need would be an addition to the fieldhouse itself.”
BOND PROPOSITIONS
A rough draft of what bond propositions could look like on the ballot was offered at Monday’s meeting. Numbers remain in the preliminary stages with more talks to follow.
Proposition A totaling $107,585,615 includes the following:
• new middle school and improvements to LMS football field ($95,937,342)
• new turf at the LMS football field ($1.5 million)
• demolition of the existing middle school ($1,481,273)
• safety improvements at the district’s three elementary school campuses ($4 million)
• new fleet of buses ($6 million) Proposition B, which would bring total bond spending to $134,863,373, includes the following:
• improvements to LHS traffic flow ($1,489,158)
• traffic solution at Taylor Creek Elementary School ($588,600)
• Maintenance and transportation facility improvements ($1.2 million)
• fine arts allowance ($1 million)
• multi-purpose facility at LHS (amount not to exceed $20 million)
• covered area for band practice ($1.5 million)
• LHS track and turf field replacement ($1.5 million) If both Propositions A and B were ratified by voters, LISD taxpayers could anticipate a tax rate increase of $0.087, approximately $14.50 more per month on a home with a taxable assessed value of $200,000. If only Proposition A is approved, residents likely would see a $0.0276 tax rate increase, or an extra $4.60 per month for a home with a $200,000 assessed value.
Trustees will continue discussions on the new LMS campus and possible athletic center at a called meeting Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the district’s Administration Building.
OTHER ACTION
Although bond discussions occupied most of Monday’s meeting, there were some other items for school board members to attend to.
Trustees approved the audit report for the 2024-2025 fiscal year which reflected an “unmodified” opinion, indicating clean financial statements. The report showed the district spent around $418,000 in savings during the fiscal year but still has a healthy $17.5 million in its fund balance.
Also, trustees approved the district’s School Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas score for 2023-2024. LISD received an “A,” the highest assigned rating from the Texas Education Agency.
