ECTOR COUNTY, Texas — The Ector County ISD school board voted unanimously Tuesday to hold a bond election on May 7.
The bond process has been roughly two years in the making. Leaders on the bond committee said that this bond could potentially fund projects that the district desperately needs.
"A little over two years ago, the school board created a facility review committee that was charged with studying the needs, the facility needs of ECISD," Dr. Scott Muri, ECISD superintendent said. "That committee turned into a bond advisory committee because the committee felt that the district needed a bond referendum to address the facility needs."
The $398 million bond is split into two different propositions.
Proposition A is focused on building a new Career and Technical Education facility, maintenance and technology upgrades, while proposition B would fund the building of a new high school.
Perhaps the biggest need is the construction of a new high school. The bond committee noted that overcrowding at both Odessa High School and Permian High School were problems.
"The bond committee itself saw that the greatest need that we have is at the high school level, and a common thing that we experience that our public is well aware of, when our kids, in particular at Permian and OHS, are walking the halls, it's pretty crowded," Muri said. "Those schools have been pretty crowded for a long time, and you as a board have done things over the last many things to accommodate for the growth."
Both high schools currently house just under 8,000 students total. A new high school would hold between 2,500 and 2,800 students, and would likely reduce the student population at each high school by about 1,000 students.
It would also take about three years in total to get the new high school ready to operate if the bond passes.
The two propositions could pass separately or together.
"Two propositions give the voters a chance to look at the items within and then make decisions, so both propositions could pass, both could fail certainly," Muri said. "And voters have that opportunity to look at the items within the propositions and make those decisions."
The last time Ector County voters approved a school bond proposal was in 2012.
The election is set for May 7, and early voting will begin on April 25.