Dallas ISD's $6.2B Bond Would Fund 26 New Schools

Dallas ISD is asking voters to approve a $6.2 billion bond package that would fund 26 new school campuses and billions in districtwide renovations, with a property tax increase of just 1 cent per $100 in assessed value.

The proposal arrives as the district wraps up spending from its 2020 bond. Structured around four propositions, the 2026 package puts nearly all of its weight in Proposition A, a $5.9 billion slice covering campus replacements and renovations from South Dallas to West Dallas and everywhere in between.

Campus renovations alone account for $2.4 billion of that total. The work varies by school but runs the gamut from roof replacements and window upgrades to plumbing overhauls. In South Dallas, Lincoln High School is in line for roughly $30 million in improvements and the Paul L. Dunbar Learning Center for about $20 million. West Dallas carries its own list. West Dallas Junior High School would receive approximately $28 million, Dr. L. G. Pinkston Sr. High School about $19 million, and Jesús Moroles Expressive Arts Vanguard around $15 million.

The 26 new campuses fall under $1.9 billion set aside for full replacements. Three schools stand out.

In South Dallas, the Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School and Charles Rice Learning Center would each receive an entirely new campus. In West Dallas, Gabe P. Allen Elementary School joins that list.

The urgency around Rangel came through clearly at a December information session in South Dallas. Bridget Willis Smith, a former teacher at the school, made the case in person to district officials. “Our amazing girls have been stuck in the same building designed for elementary students,” she told attendees, according to the Dallas Free Press.

Beyond bricks and mortar, Proposition A carves out $403 million for safety and security upgrades, including video technology and command vehicles. Physical education gets $341 million for turf fields, field houses, and multi-use facilities. And $219 million goes toward portable classroom removal, something parents and teachers have complained about for years.

Propositions B, C, and D split the remaining $314 million. State law prohibits districts from bundling what it classifies as “luxury projects” alongside essential needs, which is why those items are separated out. Proposition B directs $145 million toward technology devices for students, classroom, and staff. Proposition C covers $143 million in debt refinancing, a move the district says would free up roughly $100 million in operational dollars. Proposition D sets aside about $26 million for pool renovations across the district.

For Preston Hollow and Park Cities homeowners watching their tax bills, the Dallas ISD bond calculator lets property owners punch in their assessed value to see exactly what the 1 cent increase means. Residents 65 and older with a homestead exemption would see no increase at all.

The 2026 bond timeline is not arbitrary. It marks the formal close of the 2020 bond cycle, and district officials have been holding community information sessions across Dallas to walk residents through each proposition. At those sessions, attendees didn’t just cheer the proposal. They pushed back, asking the district to build clearer, more accessible systems for tracking how bond dollars actually get spent once construction begins. That accountability question will hang over any campaign to pass the package.

Dallas ISD serves more than 140,000 students across a district that spans some of the city’s wealthiest and most underinvested neighborhoods, and the gap in campus conditions between those worlds has never been subtle. A bond of this scale, if voters approve it, would represent the district’s most ambitious attempt to close that gap since the 2020 cycle began. The vote is expected to go before Dallas ISD voters later this year.