Coppell ISD’s Board of Trustees voted to approve district election results at a workshop meeting on Monday, confirming winners for trustee seats and the passage of four bond propositions.
Three trustee seats were up for election on May 6; however, one candidate — Jobby Mathew — ran unopposed.
Mathew was appointed to the board to fill a vacancy in Place 7 last November. Although he secured his spot in this month’s Coppell ISD election to serve the remaining year of the term, the position will be up for election again on the May 2024 ballot for a full three-year term.
Places 4 and 5 ran competitive races. In Place 4, Ranna Raval nabbed 40.27% of the vote, Jonathan Powers got 38.16%, and Samit Patel earned 21.57%. Raval won with a simple plurality of the votes. In the Place 5 race, David Caviness beat out Julie Waters 54.43% to 45.57%, respectively.
All four bond propositions passed, with Propositions A and B receiving about 65% of the vote and Propositions C and D getting roughly 55%.
The combined total of the bond propositions is $321.5 million, with the taxpayer money slated for dozens of facility and technology upgrades across the district, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Coppell ISD’s bond election occurred at a fiscally-uneasy time for public school districts, which have been having to belt-tighten because steadily declining enrollment is having a negative impact on their operating budgets.
The district’s latest Texas Education Agency accountability report noted that only 41% of its students scored at grade level on the STAAR exam, significantly below the 48% statewide average. Additionally, almost 20% of its graduating Class of 2022 did not earn a diploma in four years.
For its part, Coppell ISD managed to graduate 99.6% of its seniors on time last year, and 78% of its students scored at grade level on the STAAR exam.
