Dallas ISD is finalizing a multi-billion dollar bond package that could go before voters as early as this spring.
The package could top 2020’s record-setting bond election, when voters approved $3.5 billion out of the $3.7 billion request, said Drexell Owusu, chair of the district’s Bond Steering Committee.
“We’re actively trying to understand what the district’s needs are in real time,” Owusu said during a recent bond meeting at LG Pinkston High School. “But yet-to-be-determined is the exact size of what 2026 would look like.”
The district’s Citizen’s Bond Steering Committee has been meeting since March, 2025 to plan next year’s bond package.
The committee has been assessing the district’s needs department by department. The most recent meeting focused on athletics and safety & security.
Vincent Reyes, assistant superintendent for athletics, said the athletics in Dallas ISD are “bursting at the seams,” carrying great financial needs. He said some programs start before a school’s last class ends. He’d like to avoid that so team members wouldn’t have to miss class. But he said if a game or practice starts later, fields would need lights.
“Only four out of 22 baseball and softball fields have them,” he said. Among his department’s nearly $305 million wish list is more than $34 million for lights.
Dallas ISD Police Chief Albert Martinez said he hopes the 2026 bond will include $40 million for school camera modernization – a state mandate – and $6.8 million for officer-worn body cameras, another state mandate.
Martinez’s total added up to $422 million.
These aren’t the costliest items being considered in the bond, which could also include billions for new buildings and renovations, as well as funds for teacher housing, the Dallas Morning News first reported.
Owusu sees the district’s greatest bond needs in new construction.
“We still have 400 portables across Dallas ISD. We would love to get every kid in a real classroom, not in a portable,” he said. “That's going to take some resourcing and time. ... We’ve got more work to do.”
Another 2026 bond goal for Owusu is reducing the average age of the district’s structures. He said the 2020 bond resulted in enough new buildings to reduce the average age of a Dallas ISD building from 52 years to 42 or 43.
He expects trustees will approve a 2026 bond for voters. He’s just not sure if it’ll appear in the spring election or the fall. He said inflation would likely make a later bond costlier.
Dallas ISD’s last Citizen’s Bond Steering Committee meeting is set for Nov. 10.
Bill Zeeble is KERA’s education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
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