Fort Bend ISD scraps plans for bond-funded $47.6M elementary school over money issues

FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- Fort Bend ISD is shelving plans for a new elementary school that was supposed to be funded by a $1.2 billion bond voters approved last year.

Instead of building the school, the board voted Monday night to use the $47.6 million it would have cost to help close an $80 million budget deficit.

The school was supposed to be built in the rapidly expanding Harvest Green subdivision, and would have accommodated 1,000 students.

"I can feel that the school is needed. We are already overcapacity. Were already busting at the seams," parent Mandy Bui said.

Last year, Fort Bend ISD spent $2.1 million acquiring the land the school would have been built on near Harlem Road and West Airport Boulevard.

The school is featured in the video that the district used to promote the bond.

Eyewitness News spoke with voters, who said they believed the school would be built if the bond passed.

"You have a whole community of people, I mean really all of Fort Bend ISD, who voted in favor of a bond almost under false pretenses," parent Elisa Hrachovina said.

But the district says its hands are tied.

"At this point, there's nothing else to cut," Board President Kristin Tassin said. "I am not sure what else there is to cut to get us $80 million down, except for cutting the school."

The district says data from their demographer also indicates that the school would be underutilized through the 2023-24 school year.

The board also decided on Tuesday to talk next month about going back to the taxpayers on this, so they'll discuss a possible "special purpose bond" to get the school built.

"It just seems like you guys are making an issue when it shouldn't be one. You guys already voted. You approved it. They said, 'Hey, we're gonna give you our money,' and you're like, 'Eh, we ain't gonna do that,'" parent Michael Bardo said.

While it may seem like bait and switch to some, legal analyst Brian Wice said the district isn't legally obligated to follow through on any promises made during the bond campaign.

Notably, the 2023 ballot doesn't explicitly state a school will be built in the Harvest Green subdivision.

"Nobody is going to claim that there was this monumental bad faith on the part of the school board. Only that we couldn't do what we set out to do," Wice said.