The Bond Advisory Committee met for the second time to hear a report on the status of the 2023 MISD Bond. The committee was reminded of their roles and responsibilities and will meet with district leaders quarterly. They will hear reports on construction and project timelines; cost of projects and finance reports; and communication and marketing efforts. The committee will present to the Bond Planning Committee annually each May and present the final report on Bond 2023 to the Board of Trustees.

OPERATIONS

NEW HIGH SCHOOLS Pfluger Architects has been selected for architectural and engineering services of the two new comprehensive high schools based on their qualifications. Dunaway has been approved by the Board of Trustees as the surveying firm for the two new high school projects. The design phase for the new high schools is currently underway. District and campus leaders visited schools in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and Lubbock Cooper. These site visits were intended to provide attendees with an idea of how 21st century learning spaces look. The visits allowed attendees to provide feedback to architects about areas of these campuses that would be a good fit for the new Midland High School and Legacy High School. Peer group meetings will be held March 5th and 6th to discuss specific areas of design for the new high schools. Pfluger's architectural team will facilitate these meetings. These meetings are intended to discuss specific areas of the schools with representatives from the district familiar with each area. The completion date of the schools is slated for 2028. The cost to build the new high schools is $985,200,000.

MIDDLE SCHOOL ADDITIONS/CONVERSIONS Programming packages are being developed for the middle schools. At the February board meeting, JSA Architects was approved as the architectural and engineering firm, based on their qualifications, that will provide planning, design and construction administration to Goddard Junior High and Midland Freshman High School. Upon grade reconfiguration in 2028, MFHS will be converted to a middle school. These two campuses exhibit the same floor plan, and, combined, create the largest middle school package. It was a priority to begin work on these projects first. Completion of classroom additions is slated for August 2026. The cost of the middle school additions and conversions is $123,200,000.

NEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Parkhill Architects has been selected for the architectural and engineering services of the elementary school based on their qualifications. The new elementary school will be a Parkhill prototype design similar to the current Fasken and Yarbrough elementary campuses. This will save significant costs and design time. Because Parkhill is the Project Manager for the overall Bond project, they will not receive management fees associated with the elementary project. Campus leaders from Fasken Elementary and Yarbrough Elementary have met with Parkhill to provide feedback and suggestions for making improvements to the design of the new campus. The target completion date is scheduled for 2025, and groundbreaking is intended to take place late spring or early summer of this year. The project cost is $53,300,000.

SAFETY AND SECURITY Packages are currently being developed for the design phase of safety and security projects that will take place district-wide. Vandergriff Group Architects, based on their qualifications, was approved by the Board of Trustees as the architectural and engineering firm that will provide planning, design and construction administration at eight elementary schools. This eight school package was given priority as these campuses are currently without security vestibules. The elementary schools in this package include: Bush, De Zavala, General Tommy Franks, Lamar, Parker, Sam Houston, Santa Rita, and Scharbauer elementaries. Targeted completion of all safety and security projects district-wide is August 2028. The cost for all safety and security projects is $50,300,000.

UPGRADES TO AGING FACILITIES Packages are currently being developed for the design phase of the projects. All projects have a target completion date of August 2028. The overall cost for upgrades to aging facilities is $203,400,000.

FINANCE

BOND SALE At the February meeting of the Board of Trustees, the order authorizing the issuance of Midland ISD Unlimited Tax School Building Bonds at the amount of $900 million was approved. The sizing of the first bond issuance will provide approximately 28-30 months of projected expenditures. The remaining amount of unissued bonds is projected to be issued in 2026; however, this will solely depend on the need.

S&P AND MOODY RATINGS Moody’s issued MISD an Aa1 rating and improved its outlook to “positive” from “stable.” S&P confirmed its AA rating. This can lead to low interest rates for the upcoming bond sale. These high ratings are great for both bond investors and Midland taxpayers. They show investors that MISD bonds are a low-risk investment. For the taxpayer, these ratings should result in a lower interest rate, saving on total repayment.

FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY DASHBOARD A financial dashboard will soon be added to midlandbond2023.com to provide the community with project spending progress.

COMMUNICATIONS

WEBSITE The midlandbond2023.com website will continue to be used to inform the community of project updates. The website will regularly be updated with project status and financial information, along with Bond Advisory Committee meeting recaps. A financial dashboard will be added to the site to keep the transparency of bond spending at the forefront.

BOND ADVISORY COMMUNICATION An overview of communication that will be sent to the Bond Advisory Committee members was presented. Members of the committee will receive monthly previews of bond items that will be reported and/or voted on during regular monthly school board meetings. Recaps of the quarterly Bond Advisory Committee Meetings will be sent to committee members as well as the Midland community at large. In the interim, should any items of note arise, Bond Advisory Committee members will receive notification.

STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PLAN The MISD Communications Department, along with Parkhill and Pfluger, have been working together to create a strategic communications plan that aligns communication and project planning, design, and construction phases.

SIGNAGE Signs have been placed at the sites of the new elementary school in Lone Star Trails and the locations of the new MHS and LHS.

Campus packages are being developed, and signs will be placed in front of campuses once those have been finalized.

All students will graduate ready for college, career, or military.