Barbers Hill ISD branch campus set to blossom

July 14, 2025

Barbers Hill ISD and Lee College estimate it will take about $154 million over the next 25 years to run Lee College’s branch campus in Mont Belvieu.

That is the total of budget operations payments by Lee College to BHISD on a schedule from 2025-2049 included in the interlocal agreement signed last month by Lee College regents and Barbers Hill ISD board trustees.

That dollar amount is also equal to what BHISD expects to pay Lee College from its branch campus tax of 5 cents per $100 value that BHISD taxpayers agreed to pay in order to bring a two-year college’s branch campus to BHISD property.

The Lee College Barbers Hill Higher Education Center is expected to open its doors for the fall of 2027 and its budgeted operations payment for that half year is expected to be $2.7 million, with the figure increasing to $8.8 million for a full year in 2049.

“We are being fully reimbursed for all our services at the branch campus,” Gilbert Santana, chairman of the Lee College regents, said. That includes salaries, security, support services.

“No money from Goose Creek CISD collections goes to that campus,” he said.

Baytown’s Lee College and the Goose Creek school district share the same boundaries, so residents who live inside those boundaries pay taxes to both the Goose Creek CISD and the Lee Junior College District. Those taxpayers will not pay anything toward the branch campus.

BHISD gets to keep any additional branch campus tax over the budget operations payments but may only use it for branch campus expenses.

It is in charge of the expenses and effort of building and equipping the BHHEC, which is planned to cover 60,000 square feet over two stories on a 20-acre lot on the corner of Gill Parkway and Farm Road 1409. Gill Parkway is an extension of Perry Avenue, which runs between Eagle Stadium and Barbers Hill High School.

Lee College will collect and keep all monies collected from tuition and fees. Additionally, Santana pointed out, the branch campus will be the recipient of state and federal funds as well.

“We can only use those funds at the branch campus,” Santana said.

Under the terms of the agreement, the branch campus will be used for dual credit between BHISD and Lee College.

BHISD residents and taxpayers will receive a reduced tuition rate equal to the average of Lee College’s in-district and out-of-district rates, the agreement says. The same goes for fees.

A floor plan included in the paperwork shows the building divided by areas of instruction.

The front of the building sits diagonally so that it is facing the intersection of FM 1409 and Gill Parkway with the two-story facade supported by 16 columns with tall archways in the center and either end.

To the right, as one enters from the faculty/visitor parking lot, is the student success center and advisory hub. To the left, is the learning hub. First-floor spaces also include plenty of room for a testing center, a cybersecurity and cloud computing center and administration.

According to the drawing, student parking and entry is at the backside of the building. An atrium at the center of the structure includes stairs the second level. It features dedicated spaces for classrooms devoted to English and humanities; behavioral science; math; allied health; and science.