Want your voice heard in HISD bond package process? Here’s the district’s plan.

With a few months left before HISD leaders must decide whether to hold a bond election, community members will have their first opportunity to weigh in on the potential multibillion-dollar package .

HISD announced Wednesday it is convening a Community Advisory Committee that will meet five times over the next two weeks to share information on the districts’ plan to upgrade campuses and hear public feedback. HISD Superintendent Mike Miles’ administration said it is looking into a bond totaling $4 billion to $5 billion that will not raise property tax rates.

A successful bond election allows school districts to finance the costs of building new campuses, updating aging facilities and buying new technology, among other items.

The last time HISD passed a bond was in 2012, leaving dozens of campuses in dire need of renovations and upgrades to heating and cooling systems. Large urban districts like HISD typically pass a bond every five years or so.

Compared to most other Houston-area districts, HISD is operating on a tighter timeline for assembling a committee of community members to discuss the bond and help generate buy-in. In recent years, several other districts started that process seven to nine months before an election. HISD would hold its election in early November, about 5 ½ months after the first community meeting.

A recent survey by Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research found about two-thirds of nearly 3,000 HISD residents polled would support a bond if it does not raise property taxes by more than $25 per year. Only one-third of those polled backed a bond that raised property taxes by $100 per year.

Some community members also have said they don’t have confidence in Miles, who was appointed superintendent by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath last year, to responsibly spend bond money. At recent school board meetings, many speakers repeated the phrase “no trust, no bond.”

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HISD stressed the importance of raising money for structural improvements on the heels of a destructive storm that swept through Houston last week. Several campuses were damaged by high winds, while some campuses struggled with air conditioning problems.

“As the HISD community continues to recover from last week’s storm, the need for investment in our aging facility infrastructure has become even more acute,” the district wrote in a press release Wednesday. “To engage our community in this discussion as quickly as possible, HISD is announcing the dates for community meetings on the state of HISD facilities.”

Three local leaders will chair the committee: Judith Cruz, a former HISD trustee; Garnet Coleman, a longtime Houston representative in the state Legislature; and Scott McClelland, a retired president of H-E-B and co-founder of the education nonprofit Good Reason Houston.

In recent years, other Houston-area districts have formed larger bond committees, ranging from several to more than 100 members.

Committee meetings are scheduled for:

• May 28, Forest Brook Middle School, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• May 30, Cornelius Elementary School, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• June 1, virtual meeting, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. (Access information will be shared soon.)
• June 4, Fondren Middle School, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• June 5, Fleming Middle School, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Asher Lehrer-Small covers education for the Landing and would love to hear your tips, questions and story ideas about Houston ISD. Reach him at asher@houstonlanding.org .