Mullendore Elementary Community Open House
Thursday, April 20
6-7:30 p.m.
4100 Flory St., North Richland Hills, 76180
This Open House is the last opportunity the community and alumni will have to walk the halls of Mullendore Elementary before demolition begins at the end of the 2022-23 school year.
Smith Elementary Community Open House
Thursday, April 20
6–7 p.m.
3701 Haltom Rd., Haltom City, 76117
This Open House is the last opportunity the community and alumni will have to walk the halls of Smith Elementary before demolition begins at the end of the 2022–23 school year.
During the 2022 Bond campaign, the Board expressed its intent to implement additional procedures to ensure that all Bond dollars are spent on the 2022 Bond projects identified in the election.
The Committee is comprised of community members who will be advisory in nature and will meet at least quarterly. Their primary duties will be to review the progress of the construction and the expenditures associated with each project. The Committee’s quarterly reports to the Board will be posted online.
“The Board appreciates these community volunteers who desire to partner with the District to ensure the 2022 bond funds are spent as promised and in a wise and efficient manner,” Board President Kelvin Dilks stated. “Resources shared with the Committee will also be made available online to the public following each meeting at birdvilleschools.net/boc22.”
Committee members are:
Questions for the Bond Oversight Committee may be emailed to bond22@birdvilleschools.net.
On November 8, 2022, Birdville ISD voters approved Propositions A and B in the bond package that will be used for safety and security, renovations and repairs, rebuilds, buses, and technology. However, Proposition C for Indoor Multipurpose Activity Centers at Birdville, Haltom and Richland high schools failed by 2,143 votes.
BISD is reaching out to our community to listen and learn more about your thoughts regarding Proposition C for Indoor Multipurpose Activity Centers at the three main high school campuses. We hope you will answer this short survey. (All responses are anonymous.)Survey Closes: Monday, Dec. 12, 2022
One of the most complicated subjects we deal with is school finance. Without getting into golden and copper pennies, allotments, Tier I and Tier II funding, WADA, and other in-depth details of school finance, here is what we can easily say about the proposed bond package.
Birdville ISD’s tax rate will not change because of the 2022 bond election.
Did you know … ?
Since 2019, BISD’s overall tax rate has decreased 17.4 cents. This has positioned the District to have additional capacity to sell bonds to address facility improvements now and in the future. Also, since 2014, the Board has approved prepayments of $29 million of bond principal saving taxpayers more than $20.2 million in future interest payments.
Though we only see the overall tax rate on the tax statement each year, that rate represents a portion for operations and a portion for voter-approved bond debt. We will illustrate this with the buckets above.
The first bucket is the Maintenance & Operations (M&O) budget, which funds daily costs and recurring expenditures such as teacher and staff salaries, supplies, insurance, and utilities.
The second bucket is the Interest & Sinking (I&S) budget, also known as Debt Service, which is used to repay debt for capital improvements approved by voters through bond elections. Proceeds from a bond can be used for the construction and renovation of facilities, the acquisition of land, and the purchase of capital items such as equipment, technology, and transportation. By law, I&S funds cannot be used to pay M&O expenses which means that I&S funds cannot be used to pay teacher salaries or pay for rising costs for utilities and services.
The efficient management of BISD’s existing bond debt over the last ten years has allowed the District to refinance more than $142.2 million of its outstanding bonds at a lower interest rate, saving taxpayers $18.4 million in future interest costs. The District has also prepaid approximately $29 million of its bonds prior to scheduled maturity, saving an additional $20.2 million in future interest payments for taxpayers. BISD will continue to carefully monitor its bond debt and related interest rates to save taxpayers additional dollars in the future.
The District repays its bonds based upon the useful life of the assets for which the District is financing. As an example, BISD repays bonds issued for new school buildings over a 25-year period, but repays bonds issued for technology in five years or less.
If voters approve all three propositions on Nov. 8, Birdville ISD will have the ability to sell additional voter-approved bonds with NO school tax rate increase due to bond prepayments and the refinancing of current bonds at lower interest rates.
Next week, we will look at the ballot language.
The final piece of “Birdville’s Proposition Bundle” is Proposition C. Proposition C would construct an Indoor Multipurpose Activity Center at Birdville, Haltom and Richland high schools. These facilities will be designed for use by both the fine arts and athletics programs. Features will include:
Proposition C
Indoor Multipurpose Activity Centers at all three high schools
Total: $59,000,000
Once again, BISD is using the term “Birdville’s Proposition Bundle.” When discussing the three propositions, it is important to remind voters that they are being asked to consider the proposal as a bundle, even though they are listed as three separate items.
Next week, we will look at School Finance and the Bond.
Learn more at BISDBond22.net
