In a three-part bond election for the Eanes Independent School District, voters have cast their votes against all three propositions, which would have cost $150 million.

The 2010 bond package proposed by Eanes ISD included three propositions to be voted on separately by residents in the district.

Proposition 1, for $72 million, was known as the critical-needs proposition and included a number of maintenance items for schools across the district, ranging from safety and security updates to purchasing new buses and technology upgrades.

Proposition 2, for $57 million, included the construction of a new elementary school, a support services facility and renovations to other elementary schools in the district.

Proposition 3, for $20.5 million, included the construction of a swim center, a student fitness and activity facility and new parking facilities at Westlake High School.

The bond has stirred debate among parents and community members, with multiple Political Action Committees formed because of the election.

“The good news is we’ve had a very rigorous debate in our district and we’ll come out stronger in the end,” said Al Cowan, a former Eanes ISD board member who was a part of a political action committee against the bond propositions.

“Our objective was to ask residents to reject all three [propositions] and ask our board to go back to the drawing board. This package had too many extraneous items,” Cowan said.

Keep Eanes Excellent, a pro-bond group that formed mid–October believed having an opposition group against the bond election hurt its chances of passing.

“We’ve seen Georgetown ISD bond results and it looks like they have similar [ratios], only in favor of the bond,” said Ann Price, a mother of two students in Eanes ISD and a member of Keep Eanes Excellent. “The main difference I see is that they don’t have any opposition.”

Price said one reason she was in favor of the propositions was because with bonds Eanes ISD can spend the full amount on the district, as opposed to the district’s maintenance and operating budget, in which 55 cents out of every dollar is given back to the state to be redistributed to property poor districts. (Learn more about how Robin Hood affects Eanes ISD)

“If we’re going to spend $4,500 on an air conditioner, I’d rather spend $4,500 than the $10,000 we’d spend from our M&O budget,” Price said.

Both sides felt that the board would need to re-evaluate the bond now that the election is over.

“With the current economic climate I’m not so surprised [voters were voting against the propositions],” Eanes ISD school board member Colleen Jones said. “The voters have spoken and we need to come up with a critical-needs bond package. I’m excited to work on it.”

Jones was elected to the school board in May running on a campaign to hold the district accountable in the area of fiscal responsibility.

She said in the next year Eanes ISD would be retiring debt that would allow the district to have a bond election of $43 million without any tax impact on residents in the district.

“We need to instill trust with the voters,” Jones said. “It’s never been a personal thing for me—I want to do what’s best for the kids.”

Price said she believes the board will be able to use precinct votes to gauge interest in different aspects of the propositions. For instance, if those in the precinct where Eanes Elementary School is located voted overwhelmingly for Proposition 2, it may show residents in that area are interested in renovating the school.

“The majority of the school board voted on this bond,” Price said. “It will be up to them to decide what to do next.”