Harrold voters considering $10M bond

Harrold ISD recently hosted an open forum meeting to discuss the $10,000,000 bond appearing on the May 4 ballot. Community members gathered in the Harrold gym to hear from Jake Lawrence, the school district’s financial advisor, Linda Ramsey, the architect for the proposed gymnasium, and Superintendent Cody Patton.
Lawrence provided a PowerPoint presentation to show taxpayers how their taxes are utilized in the district, the tax rate history of Harrold ISD, and how the approval of this bond will impact tax rates in the district. Below are charts that show the tax rate impact on homesteads and agricultural property.
Lawrence explained that the bond will have a 30-year life and that Harrold ISD is not eligible for state aid to make bond payments.
After Lawrence concluded his presentation, he invited Ramsey to discuss her role in the project and the importance of the bond for Harrold ISD.
“The great state of Texas tells school districts, “You have to do this. You have to meet these needs of students,” and then they take funding away. The only way to fund these needs is to use a bond,” Ramsey stated to the community. As a Harrold ISD alumna, Ramsey reflected on her time spent in the Harrold gym when she was in school—the same gym where this meeting was being held in.
“Our kids today are going to play basketball and volleyball in gyms that have so much more to offer. We don’t drive the same cars we drove 60 years ago or live in the exact same house we lived in 60 years ago. I don’t think we should be playing ball in the same gym we did 60 years ago,” Ramsey emphatically shared.
While addressing that TEA issues codes to school districts and that the Harrold gym does not meet these codes, the AC unit kicked on and sounded like the roof would fall in, causing the community to look up and laugh at the quirks of their old facility.
Ramsey continued, “TEA has come in and told us that we need to provide a storm shelter. With this new gym, we will provide that to our students and community.” Ramsey assured the voters that they had no plans of abandoning the Harrold ISD traditions or the memories that live in the current gym, “We do not have plans drawn yet. Those things will come later. But the idea and concepts are out there. We are not walking away from this [the gym]; we are trying to make it better.”