A Texas school district may soon become the third in the state to build a football stadium costing more than $50 million.
Are such exorbitant costs for high school stadiums the new normal? Only in Texas, it seems. Football fields in other states are far less expensive, often in the range of $5 million to $10 million.
The result is a high school stadium that more closely resembles a professional facility, with gleaming digital scoreboards, turf fields and expansive press boxes.
Texas school officials say their districts are teeming with new students. They insist the stadiums reflect unprecedented demand that requires larger, modern facilities.
Empower Texans is a fiscal watchdog group. It says such expensive projects should be voted on their own merits, rather than included in wide-ranging bond packages.
