Bridgeport News Stories

Voters rejected each of the three school bond propositions proposed by Bridgeport ISD on Tuesday, Nov. 7. Proposition A received 858 (45.98%) For votes to 1,008 (54.02%) Against votes; Proposition B received 752 (40.54%) For votes to 1,103 (59.46%) Against votes; Proposition C received  856 (46.25%) For votes to 995 (53.75%) Against votes.

A total of 1,888 of the district’s 8,311 registered voters participated in this election. That represents a 22.72% participation rate. The final voting results from Wise County are unofficial until the Bridgeport ISD Trustees canvas the election results at the regularly-scheduled board meeting on Monday, Nov. 13. 

The November 2023 Bond proposal included three propositions that voters could decide separately. The proposed projects would have funded safety, security and maintenance projects for aging facilities, renovations to Bull Memorial Stadium, the tennis courts and the baseball/softball fields, as well as technology support and infrastructure districtwide. 

“Thank you to everyone who participated in this election, and especially to the citizens and educators who dedicated so much time and energy to our Long-Range Facility Planning Committee,” said Superintendent Dr. Amy Ellis. “We had hoped that listening to our voters after the May election would help us bring forward a bond proposal that the community understood and preferred. The fact that both the May and November elections were rejected by voters despite the revisions we made tells us that now is not the time to address facilities. We will continue to focus on serving the children of this community and look at all options available to us in the future to ensure we are providing safe, quality facilities for our students.”

The called bond election was a culmination of years of work that began in 2019. A citizen advisory committee composed of teachers, staff, parents, and community members came together to study a district facilities assessment, safety and security, and demographic projections before developing a recommendation to address long-term facility planning for the district. 

An extensive Listen & Learn campaign was launched after voters rejected the May 2023 single-proposition bond. Feedback showed that voters did not support the covered athletic practice field project, wanted to vote on propositions separately and asked for a smaller overall bond amount with less impact for taxpayers. As a result, the November bond proposal:  

• Reduced the overall price by $40 million
• Included three separate propositions
• Eliminated the covered, outdoor athletic field
• Reduced the impact on taxpayers

Projects in the proposed bond program were expected to begin soon, but instead school officials will now discuss next steps for collecting voter feedback and studying options for managing and maintaining aging facilities.