Almost two of every three voters said “YES!” to our students in the 2018 bond election. They approved plans to spend $138.6 million on new facilities that will benefit elementary, middle and high school students for many years. The NEW facilities for academics, athletics, and the arts will help our dedicated teachers continue the quality education our students deserve.
$69M
About half of the funds will be spent on our elementary students, including new buildings for Austin, Dyess and Taylor. The first to open in August 2020 will be Austin Elementary School – providing a new home for 594 spirited Austin Raiders.
Taylor’s current building is the oldest in use in AISD. It opened in 1955 and will be replaced in 2021 about one mile east with a new campus for 600 energetic Taylor Trojans with instructional spaces designed for today’s young learners.
The 520 students at Dyess Elementary School are proud of their mascot Jets. And in 2021 they will proudly occupy a new energy-efficient campus featuring the latest safety provisions, new technology, and modern instructional spaces and playground equipment.
AT THE LIFT. The new LIFT Center – Leadership and Innovation in Future Technologies – will be the largest and most expensive building constructed by AISD in more than a decade. It will house the Academy of Technology, Engineering, Math and Science (ATEMS) and numerous career and technical education programs. The $38 million building also will include a bistro, video and recording studios, computer and science labs, counseling center, classrooms and offices.
The LIFT will feature project-based learning areas, collaboration spaces and facilities for such CTE programs as digital and multimedia arts, graphic design, culinary, information technology, programming and software development, engineering, welding, carpentry, electrical and automotive. The center will “lift” our students and uniquely prepare them for life after high school.
At AISD, the people who teach, nurture and serve our students are our most important resource. So in addition to investing in facilities, we are investing in our people. In 2019 the board approved the largest salary increase for many AISD employees in more than a decade. Our first-year teachers now receive the highest starting salary in the Abilene area.
Salary increases also were approved for librarians, counselors, nurses, clerical and auxiliary employees. Our 2019-20 budget includes an additional $6.4 million for salaries. And our employees and their families continue to enjoy an attractive benefits package that includes retirement, life insurance and ADD, vision, dental, hospitalization, long-term disability, HSA accounts and medical transport services.
