Voters Say Yes to PPISD Bond

By Abigail Allen

Managing Editor

Pilot Point ISD voters supported the $38 million bond in a vote of 646 to 530, according to the unofficial totals provided by Denton, Grayson and Cooke counties.

Superintendent Todd Southard appreciates the efforts of the Pilot Point community members who were vocal about their support of the bond.

“It really was truly a community effort,” he said. “There’s a lot of people who put in a lot of time and effort to try to get this thing passed.”

He also said he was grateful for everyone who took the time to vote and make their voices heard in the election.

“It’s a major step in the right direction,” Southard said.

The $38.4 million bond has $20 million for the district to buy land, $5.5 million for a transportation center and the remaining $12.9 million will go toward improvements needed to keep the current facilities open.

Because the bond passed, part of that land acquisition money is already dedicated to the purchase of a lot at the corner of Foutch Road and U.S. 377 for a new high school.

Southard is in the process of securing a middle school site, he said, but it is still too up in the air for him to discuss publicly.

“This process takes a lot longer than what I anticipated,” he said. “The McCutcheon property, I started working on that in May.”

Moving the transportation center to U.S. 377, away from the corner of Main and Harrison streets, will make it easier for bus drivers to negotiate their way out of the bus storage area, which multiple community members commented on from the meetings of the Long-Range Planning Committee through to an informational meeting about the bond on Oct. 11.

Making renovations to three of the four campuses will allow PPISD to shift to handle growth, Southard said, which includes the current middle school.

That building, once repaired, could be used as a flex campus when the new high school is built and other grades shift.

“It allows us to try to get ahead of this thing a little bit,” Southard said. “Had it not passed, we were going to be in a world of hurt.”

The majority of the support came from PPISD voters within Denton County, with 602 votes in favor and 306 against in Denton County.

Cooke County voters skewed toward voting against the bond, with 220 no votes to 41 yeses.

Grayson was split, three in favor versus four against.

“Most of our kids live in town; they see it on an everyday basis,” Southard said. “They see what’s going on on our campuses. … I think that definitely helped.”

The district plans to “start selling bonds probably in either late January or early February as needed to purchase additional land,” Southard said.

He created the community members who dedicated their time to create a bond package and the district employees who worked to help answer people’s questions.

“To see the fruits of our labor come to pass, and we’re able to do this for the kids, and for the district, and for the community, it is exciting,” Southard said.

In the special Pilot Point City Council meeting, Chad Major won the seat in his race against Steve Keith.