BISD school board members tonight got their first real chance to tell the superintendent and the bond committee their opinions about the bond proposal presented to them.

The trustees focused most of their comments on the possibility of combining several elementary schools and a suggested building schedule.

An unofficial building schedule, presented by Superintendent Dr. Carrol Thomas, placed the projects in the bond proposal in three phases, with the most expensive projects first, in an effort to cut the price tag of the overall bond. The example presented tonight would shave $25 to $30 million off the cost.

With this presentation came concern from trustees about the committee's recommendation to merge several of the elementary schools as well as questions about where children would attend school while buildings are under construction. The board was also briefed on how the bond would affect your tax rate, which is said to be lower for Beaumont residents than it is right now. But both the committee and the board say a lot can be done with the information given and the input received tonight.

Community Advisory Bond Committee Co-Chair Paul Brown said, "We've got to go with a first class school system and everybosy's putting their input, we're open, the committee is open, the board is open for input, how do we do this?

"I think there's some possibilities for some cost savings at this particular time in regards to the package that's been presented and we're going to do all that we can to trim it down so it can be more acceptable to the community," said BISD Superintendent Dr. Carrol Thomas.

The board plans to hold a special meeting to talk more about the bond next Tuesday, August 14th and will continue discussion at its regularly scheduled meeting two days later, on August 16th.