CHESTER – Chester ISD passed a bond election in May 2023 in the amount of $5,315.000. The district was subsequently awarded safety grants through the Texas Education Agency for $750K. The election bond narrowly passed by a vote of 159 for and 138 against.
Prior to the bond election, the district formed a long-range planning committee, made up of employees, parents, and taxpayers. The committee toured buildings and reviewed TASB (Texas Association of School Boards) and GLS facility assessments. The committee considered TASB’s finding that renovation would cost 160 percent more than demolition and new construction. The committee ultimately decided to move forward with the bond election. The board ordered the election in February 2023.
Shortly after the bond was passed, the State of Texas increased the homestead exemption, reducing out-of-pocket school taxes for homeowners. Chester ISD is held harmless through ASAHE (Additional State Aid for Homestead Exemption), ensuring no loss of revenue the district. District leadership timed the bond election with awareness of these changes to minimize taxpayer burden. Designs were kept cost-efficient and functional with no unnecessary architectural issues.
The district’s business manager, Austin Odom, stressed why the bond election was needed.
He explained, “the high school building and weight room were structurally deteriorated and constructed primarily from aging wood, the junior high classroom wind was also in poor condition. The high school had no fire alarm system or modern safety features, the electrical infrastructure was outdated and unsafe, and there was asbestos present.”
The $5 million dollar bond included: demolition of the existing High School, weight room, and Junior High wing, construction of a new High School/Junior High building, new entrance to the gym, replacing the old High School foyer, replacement of the cafeteria fume hood and fire suppression systems, and installation of fume-extraction hoods in the AG shop to allow welding and instruction with doors secured.
Per Odom, the construction timeline proceeded as follows: in December 2023, demolition of the weight room and junior high wing began. In early summer 2025, the new HS/JH building was completed and opened to students for the 2025-26 school year.
Also, in late summer of 2025, demolition of the old high school building began once students were moved into the new facility. Depending on the weather, the new gym entrance is scheduled for completion in next month. Architects for the project are GLS inc. of Lufkin, and construction manager for the project is CoxJones Construction of Nacogdoches.
Per the construction timeline, Odom said, “the majority of the building work is now on the inside, so the weather won’t affect it as bad, it’s when they start pouring the sidewalks is when we might get pushed back. That’s our only concern with the weather, the sidewalks”.
Odom explained how the safety grants were utilized. He said, “with the safety grants, we did a full district re-key, so now we have one master key for police and fire, we have emergency key lock boxes, we also have silent panic alarms in every classroom that connect with 911, and we can send out messages and announcements in each classroom. We are re-doing all of the fencing with the safety grants and working on security camera plans. We have redone all the doors to make sure they are latching and locking correctly, and windows and doors have bullet resistant glass. It was a big blessing that we could have all that going on in the middle of construction and tie a little bit of it together”.
Odom said that “usually, the safety grants are awarded in phases, and it was a big deal for us to get the grants all at one time.”
Looking ahead, Chester ISD is proud of the community’s support and the timing that allowed students to enter safe, modern, code-compliant facilities while protecting taxpayers. These improvements position the district for long-term success and provide students with a secure learning environment for decades to come.
