Flower Mound childhood center bond passes

LAWTON – Patrons of the Flower Mound Public School district have approved a $2 million bond issue to build an early childhood center, which will include a safe room for students to take shelter in severe weather.

The proposal passed on a 60-42 vote Tuesday, with 60.38% of voters approving the bond issue and 39.62% voting against it, according to unofficial election results. Under Oklahoma law, school bond issues require a pass rate of at least 60%, known as a supermajority.

Flower Mound Superintendent Dax Trent was not surprised by the outcome, he said Wednesday.

“We’d spent years getting a federal grant to help supplement the cost (of the project) for our community,” he said. “I think the people that really listened and got the facts, instead of that misinformation that was out there, knew that we were really getting bang for our buck by utilizing that grant to build this for our students in the school district.”

Trent was referring to a $1.2 million Federal Emergency Management Agency grant, which will help the district pay for a safe room in the early childhood center. The building itself expected to cost between $2.8 million and $3 million, but the FEMA grant will cost about 75% of the cost of constructing the safe room.

The bond issue will generate about $2 million, which will not pay all the expenses for the project, Trent said in an Oct. 13 interview. However, the bond issue will allow the district to tap other resources to help offset the cost.

Early childhood center

The early childhood center will be located west of the gym on a circle drive, making it easier for parents to drop off and pick up their students. An additional parking lot will be built in the sports field directly in front of the new building.

Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students are currently housed in separate buildings, while first-graders are in portable buildings. But when the early childhood center is complete, pre-K and kindergarten students will move into the new building and first-graders will relocate to the pre-K classrooms.

Trent said Wednesday that the district has already begun preparing ground for the new facility, and he anticipated breaking ground in April or May of 2022.

“We’re trying to utilize all the dirt work to be done while we’re out on summer break, so that when we come back, we have a pad out there and we’re not tracking dirt in and letting dirt blow in our current school facilities while we’re having school next year,” he said.

Trent said he hoped the project will be completed in the summer of 2023.

Taxpayer impact

Property taxes in the district will rise by about 20% as a result of the bond issue, Trent said in the Oct. 13 interview. For example, a property owner who currently pays $1,000 in property taxes each year would see their annual tax bill increase to about $1,200 – about $16 more per month.