With $450 million to spend on capital improvements, thanks to an improvement package voters approved in a 2016 bond election, the San Antonio Independent School District has begun work on renovating several facilities.

“We’ve got 13 schools that are in need of significant renovations, and it’s an opportunity for us to really create some strong models that we want all of our schools to follow,” said Leslie Price, SAISD spokeswoman.

Work is underway at Bowden Academy, Jefferson High School (pictured above), and Irving Dual Language Academy, according to Price. At Jefferson, planned renovations include preservation work with a price tag of almost $60 million. The high school is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and features Spanish tiles and wrought-iron balconies which date back to the 1930s.

Meanwhile, renovations at Bowden include enclosing a breezeway and adding nearly 13,000 square feet to accommodate four classrooms at a cost of $11 million. Administrators hope the renovation and expansion will help the former elementary school, which only recently began to accept students through eighth grade, meet the needs of older students.

And at Irving, renovations are estimated to exceed $23 million. Work has begun on the second floor, where classrooms are being expanded.

The school district hopes to finish all work before the start of the 2021-2022 school year.

Connect Houston is taking place February 26, 2019. For more information — or to attend — click here.

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