Edinburg, PSJA bonds overwhelmingly pass; Donna, Mercedes voters shoot down theirs

EDINBURG -- Voters overwhelmingly approved a $112 million school bond issue - the Edinburg school district's first in nine years.

Six other school district bond projects were also decided Saturday.

Approved with more than 70 percent of the vote, Edinburg's bond issue will pay for a slew of new campuses, including four new elementary schools, two middle schools and converting one middle school into a high school.

The money also will be used to build a new fine arts auditorium at each of Edinburg's three existing high schools.

Francisco Guajardo, one of the bond's leading proponents, said widespread community support was key to the bond proposal's passage.

"There was significant participation from people who oftentimes are sitting on the sidelines," Guajardo said.

More than three times as many voters turned out this time as they did for the last bond election - for $26.4 million - in September 2004.

In the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo school district, voters on Saturday handily passed a $105.8 million bond issue with more than 66 percent approval. The money is slated to go toward three new elementary schools, one new middle school, replacing buildings at elementary schools and expanding all three high schools.

Smaller bonds

In the Mission school district, voters passed a $59 million bond to build a new elementary school and improve existing campuses.

In the Valley View district, more than 91 percent of voters approved a $16.79 million bond issue to build a new ninth-grade campus.

In the Donna school district, voters shot down a $49.9 million bond that would have been used to purchase land to build an 11th- and 12th-grade campus and an agricultural education facility.

In Weslaco, that school district's voters approved a $25 million bond issue to renovate two elementary schools and improve air conditioning and roofing at others.

In the Monte Alto school district, voters gave the nod to a $12 million bond proposal for school improvements, including adding space to the district's middle school to make room for a future high school.

And voters in the Mercedes school district defeated an $11.6 million bond proposal for a new fine arts center at Mercedes High School and buildings at the Mercedes Alternative Campus for the Early College High School program.
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Jared Taylor covers Edinburg, the Delta region and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4439.