Bond Frequently Asked Questions

There will be 3 propositions totaling  $119,000,000

Proposition A:
Total = $96,000,000
Early Childhood Campus to house Head Start, Pre-K, Child Development Center, Kindergarten - $57,000,000
Career and Technical Education Center - $39,000,000

Proposition B:
Total = $12,000,000
Baseball/Softball fields including - artificial turf, batting cages, dugouts, bleachers, press boxes, concessions, restrooms, storage, bleachers.
New tennis courts (with two additional courts for a total of 4) and spectator seating.

Proposition C:
Total = $11,000,000
Panther stadium improvements including – 2 locker rooms, concessions/restroom renovations, fencing, field drainage replacement,

The CTE facility will be connected to the northeast side of the main high school campus.
Early childhood will be on district owned property south of Southside Elementary.

At this time, the early childhood programs are housed on separate campuses. This will centralize all Early Childhood classes ensuring instructional alignment.

Our elementary schools are over or at capacity. An ECC will free up a number of classrooms on the existing elementary campuses; alleviating over-crowding and will create space for growth. Currently, this equates to an increased capacity of roughly 600+ students at Central, Southside, and Lakeview.

This facility will house all of our CTE programs under one roof. Currently, students in our Agriculture and Automotive programs are housed in a facility separate from the main high school campus and students must be bused each period to their CTE class. This creates safety issues, a significant loss of instructional time each day (approximately 10 minutes per class period) and also adds a financial costs to the district for transportation. This CTE facility will open up 13 classrooms at the high school which addresses overcrowding and allows for future growth on the high school campus. This increases the student capacity at Mabank High School by approximately  325 students.

Yes. The Child Development Center for employee children is a positive employee retention and recruitment tool for MISD. Of the 700+ students to attend the Early Childhood Campus, only 80 of those are employee children. In addition, employees are charged a fee for each of their children comparable to local child care facilities.

Yes, the district receives federal funds for Head Start. In the school year 2021 – 2022, MISD received $294,079. The purpose of those funds are for Equipment & Personnel.

Yes, if a district identifies 15 or more eligible children who are 4 years of age on or before September 1 of the current school year, they are required to have a Pre-kindergarten program.

The district and architectural firm solicated cost projections from multiple contractors who are currently building schools to create the cost estimates. Their cost projections along with inflation projections are the basis for this bond budget which comply with the Texas Education Agency building requirements for public schools in Texas.

Other than using cash, a bond election is the only way Texas law allows school districts to fund additions, renovations, and new facilities. School districts borrow money in the form of bonds to finance these projects from design through construction. This is similar to homeowners borrowing money in the form of a mortgage to finance a home.

A bond is similar to a home mortgage.  It is a contract to repay borrowed money with a stated interest rate over time.  In Texas, most school districts utilize bonds to finance construction, renovations, and equipment.

A Facility Advisory Committee with approximately 30 parents, staff members, and community leaders toured the district and reviewed data to identify potential needs and make a recommendation regarding a bond election. The Board of Trustees unanimously accepted the committee’s recommendation.

If the bond election passes, a design process will begin, which involves input from a variety of district stakeholders. The new campus would have a capacity of 700+ students, allowing for expected enrollment growth. District-owned land behind Southside Elementary is the planned location.

A school district’s tax rate is comprised of two components or “buckets”. The first bucket is the Maintenance and Operations budget (M&O), which funds daily costs and recurring or consumable expenditures such as teacher and staff salaries, supplies, software and utilities. The second bucket is the Interest and Sinking budget (I&S), also known as Debt Service, and that is for longer-term capital improvements approved by voters through bond elections. I&S funds cannot by law be used to pay M&O expenses, which means that voter-approved bonds cannot be used to increase teacher salaries or pay rising costs for utilities and services.

The proposed total tax rate would be $1.2131, a projected increase of approximately 13.74 cents. For a $100,000 Mabank ISD home, this would mean a projected increase of $6.87 a month and $18.32 a month for a $200,000 home.

No.  By law, if you receive an Age 65 or Older Exemption, your homestead tax rate cannot be raised above the frozen level unless you make significant improvements to your home.  A significant improvement would be anything beyond normal maintenance or repair, such as building a swimming pool or adding a garage or game room.

Under state law, if you have applied for and received the Age 65 Freeze on your homestead, your school taxes CANNOT be raised above their frozen level unless you make significant improvements or additions to your home. To apply for the Age 65 freeze, contact your county’s Central Appraisal District.

• Henderson County – henderson-cad.org, 903-675-9296
• Kaufman County – kaufman-cad.org, 972-932-6081
• Van Zandt County – vzcad.org, 903-567-6171

Early voting takes place from April 24 to May 2, and you can cast a ballot at any voting location during this time. Use this page for times and locations.

Election Day is Saturday, May 6. On this day, voting must take place at precinct polling locations. Visit the Henderson County Elections, Kaufman County Elections and Van Zandt County Elections websites for a list.

887 of the 1082 students at the high school are enrolled in CTE courses. There are 1,720 total seats each day (students in one or more CTE courses).

The soccer teams use the football field almost daily and we play games on that field weekly.

The Jr. High locker rooms are for the Jr. High athletes, the two small locker rooms at Panther Stadium will house high school athletes. Baseball/softball and boys/girls soccer.

No. We will make needed improvements to address growth and aging facilities.

This bond has the addition of the improvements to Panther Stadium. The increase in cost from the last bond attempt is based on the increase in inflation and construction/material costs.

The district and architectural firm solicited cost projections from multiple contractors who are currently building schools to create the cost estimates. Their cost projections along with inflation projections are the basis for this bond budget which comply with the Texas Education Agency building requirements for public schools in Texas.

A new Jr. High, a new high school, an elementary campus, campus additions, portable buildings. The committee and board considered all these options and chose this bond project/plan which increases classroom space at all elementary and high school campuses to accommodate current and future growth and the increase caused by new developments. Safety & Security measures  are another major priority of this bond that impacts all students and all campuses.

Community input has been sought through a facility committee for the past 2+ years.  As for the names of committee participants, we will gladly share. Their affiliation for participation was that they represented a cross section of our community, i.e. parents, staff, business owners and community representatives.

We will not have to staff any of the other buildings with new staff, other than for growth. Existing staff will move to the new buildings.

Between the cities of Mabank and Gun Barrel City, there are 23 developments ongoing. These current developments equate to an additional 1,708 new homes.

Using data from Kaufman, Henderson, and Van Zandt county appraisal districts, the average home value in Mabank ISD is $217,281, the average taxable value is $153,481. Proposition A=$9.84. Proposition B=$4.03, Proposition C=$3.71 for a total of $17.57.