Whitesboro ISD opens agriscience center with room for nearly 50 pigs and 10 sets of cattle, after years of cost delays

Whitesboro ISD has opened a new agriscience center for its agriculture program just south of Whitesboro High School, KXII reported Sunday night.

Superintendent Ryan Harper told the station the building can house nearly 50 pigs and 10 sets of cattle, plus as many sheep and goats as the program needs. He called it one of a kind for a high school in North Texas, and possibly in Texas.

Harper said the project took years. Cost and timing held it up until voters approved it as part of a bond package, he told the station.

How it was paid for

When Whitesboro voters passed a two-part, $118 million bond in May 2024, KTEN reported that the larger, $100 million proposition included a new barn for the agriculture program, along with buses, an early childhood center, an auditorium and a career and technical education addition at the high school. That measure passed 767-524.

A separate $18 million proposition for a multipurpose activity center passed more narrowly, 652-635.

Harper told KTEN at the time that the district had run out of room, with closets and offices converted to classroom space, and that both propositions would raise property taxes.

The name

The district named the building the Russell Agriscience Center for longtime agriculture teacher Joe Russell and his son, Joel, a former school board president, recognizing their years of service to agriculture in Whitesboro, according to KXII.

Sources

KXII

KTEN