District outlines $23M short-term contingency if bond fails; needs estimated $39.4M for current repairs

District staff presented contingency options should the board decide not to pass a bond or if critical systems fail before a bond is approved. Robert Henneth told trustees the district could draw roughly $9.5 million from unassigned fund balance (TEA-recommended 90-day level referenced) and has just over $13.5 million remaining from the 2017 bond, for a combined short-term pool of about $23 million.

“That would give us just over $23,000,000 in those two buckets,” Henneth said. He cautioned that identified repair needs for the high school and middle school total roughly $39.4 million, meaning contingency funds would not fully cover identified repairs and that the district would need additional action if multiple critical failures occurred simultaneously.

Henneth said using those funds would be an interim step to address immediate failures while longer-term financing or bond action is pursued.