Breaking down the $777 million Mansfield ISD bond

By Amanda Rogers

Mansfield Record

The Mansfield ISD school board has put a $777 million bond on the May 4 ballot.

So where is the money going? And how much would the bond raise residents’ tax bills?

The first thing to know is that the $777 million would be spread across an assortment of areas, and voters can decide on each area because the bond is broken into five different propositions. Voters can pick and choose which areas they want to fund.

As for the cost, the Mansfield ISD says if voters approve any or all of the five propositions that the school tax rate will not be affected.

“Just to clarify, if all five bond propositions pass, MISD is able to pay for them without raising residents' tax rate,” the district said in a statement. “Mansfield ISD has been paying down debt sooner than required through strategic management. The Board of Trustees has authorized refunding and paying off callable debt sooner than scheduled, which has resulted in additional debt capacity. That, and the growth of Taxable Assessed Values, allows the bonds to be repaid at the current I&S rate of 36 cents per $100 of property value.”

The propositions spread funds across the district, ranging from renovations to technology to fine arts and athletics. A new early learners center for ages 3-4 is also included. So how important are the items in the bond?

“MISD's commitment to education is not dependent upon the passage of the bond,” according to the school district’s statement. “That said, projects proposed in the bond would not get completed within the constraints of our general fund, or regular operating budget.

“For example, expansions that are proposed for Career and Technical Education, fine arts and athletics couldn't happen without the bond funds, so those programs would remain as they are now. There would be no additional space to add new CTE programs or to accommodate additional students in CTE and fine arts courses that fill up quickly.

“The district is already experiencing the lack of space in CTE,” according to the district statement. “In the 2023-2024 school year, the CTE program turned away 1,000 students who applied to the program because there was not enough space to accommodate them. Projects included in the bond designed to provide additional square footage allowing CTE and fine arts programs to grow and to allow more students to participate in the future.”

So here’s where the funds would go if each of the propositions is approved:

Proposition A, which amounts to $584,500,000, would be for facility improvements (replacing roofing, plumbing, electrical, flooring, HVAC, fire alarm systems, pavement, lighting, kitchen equipment and playground services), technology infrastructure, safety operations, transportation (buses, renovations to bus facility and construct a bus shop) and fine arts (renovate  choir rooms at Howard, Wester and Worley middle schools, add orchestra space to Coble, Howard, Jones, Jobe, Wester and Worley middle schools).

The proposition also includes adding space and converting classrooms to computer labs at Ben Barber Innovation Academy, athletics (resurface middle school tracks, build high school batting cages, in stall baseball and softball field turf at high schools, renovate middle school weight rooms and replace bleachers and scoreboards), and build an early learners academy for ages 3-4.

Proposition B,  which amounts to $4 million, would go to instructional technology, updating outdated equipment.

Proposition C,  which amounts to $50,500,000, includes renovations at R.L. Anderson and Newsom stadiums, and resurfacing the tracks, turf and scoreboards at the high schools.

Proposition D,  which amounts to $85 million, would go toward fine arts and athletic complexes. Fine arts would be classrooms, practice and rehearsal spaces for band, cheer, dance, drill teams and JROTC, and renovating band halls for orchestra. The athletic funds would go to the Phase 2 of the multi-purpose athletic complexes at each high school for locker rooms, showers, offices and storage.

Proposition E, which amounts to $53 million, is for Phase 3 of the multi-purpose athletic complexes at the high schools, including a 50-yard indoor practice field that can be used for athletics, band, cheer, dance, drill teams and JROTC.

For more information about the bond, go to mansfieldisdbond.com.