Back in 2024, the Round Rock residents voted on the four proposal bond plan for all schools within RRISD. Three of these four plans passed, commencing in a total of $932,225,000 for Elementary, Middle, and High schools along with district facilities, such as the Raymond E. Hartfield Performing Arts Center located on campus.
The three plans passed include; renovations to plumbing, electrical, and HVAC systems, to install modern security, purchase robotics equipment, update fine arts uniforms, build internet infrastructure, buy new buses, expanding Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, and lastly constructing additions to schools.
Round Rock ISD has appropriated just under $60 Million of the total $932 Million to be used as “Additions & Renovations” for McNeil as shown on the RRISD website. Comparatively, Westwood HS is receiving around $10 Million for “Additions & Renovations”, Success HS is receiving around $2 Million, Stony Point HS is receiving around $500 Thousand, Round Rock HS is receiving around $130 Million, and Cedar Ridge is receiving around $28 Million.
McNeil plans to use this money in a few ways – athletic department improvements, fine arts uniforms, and a great deal of renovations to the many wings of McNeil. The school has already seen a part of these coming renovations, the main building needing the most attention, shown in the new lights installed in January.
In previous years, McNeil has used bond money for F Wing, along with the M and N wings, the music and performance wings respectively. The first phase of the McNeil Master Plan, a plan outlining all the proposed construction projects for McNeil, was just below $40 million, the money coming from the 2018 Bond. This construction for McNeil has greatly expanded the facilities of McNeil to educate its students. Now, we face another issue, the oversized classes.
McNeil faces rapidly increasing student density as the teacher to student ratio only increases. McNeil is not intended to fit as many students as the school has enrolled, teachers often facing class sizes of over thirty students, sometimes running out of desks to provide students with. There simply aren’t enough rooms to accommodate new staff either. It would be in the best interests of the students and staff for the school to expand the amount of available rooms for students.
However, it is important to note how little room McNeil has to expand outwards while upwards may prove simply too expensive. While student density is proving to be an issue, renovations to critical systems, such as the A/C, may be one of the best uses of this bond money. As the school ages, systems such as plumbing and electrical are overlooked and require extensive updates. The school would best use this “Additions & Renovations” money to replace and repair these ailing systems so that emergency fixes can be avoided.
Overall, updating the older wings of McNeil along with restoring these older systems to avoid expensive emergency repairs is the best way forward.
