A Look at Houston’s $805M Referendum in light of Enrollment Declines

Ericka Mellon:

First, the Houston school board, which is expected to approve that $805 million bond proposal Thursday, signed a $3.8 million contract with Magellan Consulting, a Conroe-based firm that specializes in analyzing school buildings. Magellan consultants – with the help of HISD’s former in-house demographer, who now works for the company – also estimated student enrollment for each of the district’s schools over the next decade. Magellan projects the district’s overall enrollment will continue dropping – about 4 percent over the next decade. With that decline, several people have asked why the district needs taxpayers to dip into their pockets to fund new campuses.