Gatesville ISD voters approve $26 million bond for school upgrades

Gatesville ISD voters approved a $26 million bond Saturday, giving the district the green light to renovate Gatesville Junior High, rebuild the boys’ athletic field house and move ahead on upgrades officials said can begin without raising the current tax rate.

The measure passed with 531 votes in favor, a 72.44 percent approval rate, after 735 community members cast ballots through early voting and Election Day. An unofficial reconciliation report on the Coryell County Tax Office website showed the district has nearly 12,000 registered voters, with as many as 95 mail ballots still unreturned or not yet finalized, but the bond had already cleared the threshold needed to pass.

The first changes students are expected to see center on Gatesville Junior High, where the district says band, choir and theater students will no longer have to cross a busy road to reach high school facilities. The bond package includes new fine arts spaces on the junior high campus, redesigned parking and traffic flow, permanent classrooms to replace portable buildings, a renovated auditorium, updated restrooms and work on the old John C. Price Gym.

The plan also calls for a new boys’ athletic field house, plus turf for baseball and softball and a new parking lot behind the junior high to ease congestion during games. District planning documents described problems at the current field house that include roof leaks, poor ventilation, low ceilings, limited space and accessibility challenges.

Gatesville Junior High opened in 1966, and district officials had said the building needed updates to improve safety, accessibility and instruction. Trustees unanimously called the bond on Feb. 19, 2026, after months of facility assessments and community engagement that included design committee meetings, stakeholder focus groups, surveys and open feedback opportunities.

Officials had also said the bond was structured so it would not raise the current tax rate of $0.8969 per $100 of valuation, relying on retiring existing debt early and conservative financial management. Earlier board materials said the $26 million package was set at the highest level possible without increasing taxes.

The district had already spent about $1.65 million on pre-design work with Huckabee Architects of Fort Worth, a move officials said could speed the next phase once designs are approved. District leaders had said construction would begin in summer 2026 if voters approved the bond, putting the first visible work within months of the election. For Gatesville families, that means the bond result is not just a financing vote. It is the start of a long-awaited reset for the campuses, athletic spaces and daily routines students use now.