Upon passing the call for a bond election, members of the Nederland Independent School District Board of Trustees, along with members of the Citizens Advisory Committee, applauded each other’s work over the past six months.

But not every Nederland citizen may share their excitement.

A recent survey conducted by the CAC showed local support for all of the projects, but recent attempts — in 2009 and 2012 — to pass bonds for new facilities have fallen short.

In 2012, then-trustee Gavin Bruney led the Capital Improvement Committee to campaign against two bonds that would fund the building of new schools in the district. Instead, Bruney and the CIC campaigned for two bonds to renovate the existing schools. The two bonds to renovate the schools totaled $28.5 million. This year’s bond proposals
total $155.6 million and Bruney believes the board and the committee overreached in their capital improvements quest.

The first proposal is for a new high school — that would cost $82.7 million —new learning areas and improvements for elementary schools at a cost of $49.1 million; middle school improvements, $11.1 million; technology incentives, $4.8 million; and safety and security upgrades, $3.4 million. The second proposal is for Bulldog Stadium upgrades at a cost of $4.5 million.

Bruney said he has been approached by “several people” to see if he will oppose the bond. Bruney said Friday he has not made a decision whether or not to organize a group to oppose, but said he thinks the bond is too expensive.

“We had a flood just a couple of years ago,” he said. “We have people and homeowners who are just now recovering from the damage.”

Bruney said he opposes the new stadium upgrades and said the district should go the same route and Hamshire-Fannett.

“I think we can get a lot better deal from Doguet (Turf Farm) in Beaumont for a third of what the cost will be” for artificial turf, he said.

New high school

Bruney said he believes some voters will oppose the bond because the high school is the newest facility in the district. It is 47 years old.

During the last CAC meeting Feb. 6, the committee went over the results of a survey that attempted to measure interest of bond projects among voters.

The margins were slim, but a majority of responders preferred four new elementary schools at a total of $93.2 million over a new high school.

According to the survey, and the interpretation of the data by Geoff Tonini of Decisive Campaigns, a new high school was identified as a risk/concern of weakness of certain demographics, with age of voters being one of the factors.

Among survey responders who are at least 65 years old, 44.3 percent responded favorably to a new high school, opposed to 60.8 percent who instead responded favorably to four new elementary schools.

Based on the data provided to the CAC, residents who are at least 65 years old make up 43 percent of the voters, but only represented 16 percent of the survey takers.

Residents in the 55-64 age range make up 22 percent of the predicted voters. The data analysis showed 51 percent of that age range responded favorably to a new high school compared to 63 percent who responded favorably to four new elementary schools. Only the 40-54 and 18-39 ranges favored the high school over new elementary schools, but those two voting blocs are only expected to make up 35 percent of the voters in May.

Based on a number of demographics, the survey determined “A Voters,” which are expected to make up 41 percent of the voters in May, were the lowest in favor on any new facilities but favored the elementary school over the high school. Both proposals fell within the margin of error.

The election for city and school district is May 4.