MIDLAND, Texas — Early voting begins on October 23rd for the November 7th election. Midland ISD has its $1.4 billion school bond on the ballot, and at Monday's school board meeting, the board of trustees continued work related to that bond.
MISD approved the formation of a bond advisory committee. If the bond passes next month, this committee would meet for the first time in late November and be ready to hold the school district accountable.
MISD is leaving no stone unturned.
“We want to be able to provide communication early in the process of here’s what’s getting ready to happen and those initial timelines," said Dr. Stephanie Howard, Superintendent of Midland ISD.
Dr. Howard explained what the committee would be tasked with.
“Their role really will be to hear the updates, hear what’s going on with the construction timelines, the finance piece – how are the projects coming in related to the anticipated cost of those projects – and then ask us questions," Dr. Howard said. "What are they hearing out there? What questions do they have? And then we would hope and ask that they go back out and help communicate that to our constituents.”
The initial 15-person committee is a group of diversity.
“Reached out to members of our long-range planning committee, our bond planning committee and then some other leaders across the community, and they’ve all said yes," Dr. Howard said.
They’ve all said yes to making sure the process is done right.
“We said we were going to build two high schools and 54 classrooms at the middle schools and a new elementary and safety and security – they would hold us accountable to doing that work that was part of the process they went through," Dr. Howard said. "They’ve seen all of the items that would be part of the process, and so it’s really just that accountability piece and communication piece.”
The committee will also look to leave no stone unturned.
“I think it’s just really important for them to hold us accountable and for them to see that we’re going to do what we said we would do," Dr. Howard said.
Dr. Howard noted that the committee would meet quarterly, with the goal being to keep the group together for the entire time period of the bond projects. This committee will only become active if the bond passes, and for voting locations, you can go to their website by clicking here.