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Donna ISD saw its mammoth $120 million bond referendum pass by 72 votes Saturday.
According to unofficial election tallies, the bond squeaked by with 53.38% of ballots, or a total of 569 votes in favor, with 497 votes against.
The bond is more than double the amount of any bond the district has put before voters since 2000 — the second largest one, at $52 million, paid for Donna North High School.
“The Donna ISD Board of Trustees and Administration are appreciative of the voters in Donna for putting the needs of our students and schools first,” Superintendent Angela Dominguez wrote in a statement Saturday evening. “The community support for the $120 million dollar bond to invest in our school facilities will allow us to update buildings, add needed wings, and provide innovative learning spaces for our children for years to come. The Administration and Trustees will continue to be vigilant stewards of the District.”
Dominguez told trustees earlier this year the bond will fund a variety of projects, including some of more than $240 million in repairs and updates recommended by a 2019 Texas Association of School Boards study.
Most of the bond will go toward adding new wings at several campuses, a need she said increases with projected growth in Donna and associated higher enrollment.
Other projects include new classrooms, gyms and outdoor learning spaces.
District leadership expects the overall tax rate increase tied to the bond to be 6.98 cents, although district leadership expected earlier this semester that events in the ongoing legislative session may mitigate that number.
Since trustees called the election earlier this semester, the district has engaged in a fairly vigorous information campaign about the bond and what it’ll do.
In addition to overall information on the bond, the district broke improvements down by individual campuses, pairing lists of improvements with informational videos and price breakdowns.
Find the complete, unofficial election results of races across the Rio Grande Valley here.
