Carroll ISD officials are considering issuing small, short-term bonds to fund specific capital improvement projects within the next few years.
The plan was announced during the Carroll ISD Town Hall on Oct. 22 during discussions around financial planning within the district.
“We want to pass what we’re calling baby bonds,” said Cameron Bryan, Carroll ISD board president. “We want to see what our three year capital needs are, $30 [million], $50 [million], $60 million, put that on the ballot for you guys to vote for and then pay it off in three years.”
The details
Bryan said the district had around $500,000 of bond debt when he was elected in 2021 and in the last 5 years the board has reduced it by close to 50% with a goal to be debt free by 2031.
Bonds issued in the future would be to address specific needs and will be easily traceable for the sake of transparency, Bryan said.
Currently, 80% of the district's maintenance and operations budget goes toward salaries and benefits, leaving 20% for other costs related to running the school district.
‘We don’t have funds for capital improvements,” Bryan said. “We don’t have money to replace HVACs on our campuses, roofs on our campuses, infrastructure, any type of capital improvements, that comes from borrowing money.”
Those specific needs will be funded by the bonds which will be voted on by the community. After approval, Bryan said the district would receive the funds within months.
Carroll ISD reduced its tax rate to $0.9269 per $100 valuation in August with a M&O rate of $0.6853 per $100 valuation.
In other news
The district is downsizing and reorganizing its campuses due to declining rates of enrollment, which Carroll ISD superintendent Jeremy Glenn said is happening statewide.
Durham Intermediate School will close before the 2027-28 school year and Eubanks Intermediate School is merging into Dawson Middle School.
Eubanks and Dawson will be connected by an indoor corridor. Eubanks' cafeteria will be turned into an auditorium while the Dawson cafeteria will be expanded. Bryan said those changes are expected to be completed ahead of the 2027-28 school year.
CISD hit its enrollment peak in 2019 with over 8,600 students and has seen a yearly decline with 7,500 students currently enrolled.
Glenn said after the final large classes graduate the numbers should stay around 7,000. Due to investments from property sales and campus reorganization, financial numbers should stabilize in about four years.
"The huge talks of cuts and financial issues, those are going to be behind us after this year,” Glenn said.
Related highlights
One of the district’s priorities in the upcoming legislative session is reevaluating the state funding formula.
Bryan said the district receives a state low of $8,300 per student in state funding and is expected to send more money back to the state to be distributed to less wealthy districts, according to CISD officials.
School districts receive less state aid when the property values in a district rise, CISD officials said.
CISD is expected to send over $21 million to the state, according to the district’s 2026-27 budget.
Neighboring school districts receive nearly twice the amount of state aid per student and Bryan said it's unreasonable for the estimated price of educating a student to fluctuate so much.
“The funding formula for Texas is absolutely broken,” Bryan said. “You cannot convince me or anyone that has a rational mind that it takes $9000 more to educate a student in Fort Worth than it does here in Southlake.”
Items worth mentioning
The district received A accountability ratings from the Texas Education Agency on every campus and every school passed TEA safety audits for the first time, Glenn said.
Carroll ISD students had the highest ratings in the country for reading and math at grade level and Glenn said the district leads the state in mastery level on STAAR tests.
Board Vice President Andrew Yeager said the district has almost doubled its amount of merit scholars even with declining enrollment.
The school district also set a state record by winning the UIL Lone Star Cup for a 10th time. The award is given out by the University Interscholastic League based on achievements in academics, sports and music, according to UIL.
Looking ahead
The board of trustees is expected to begin forming its next strategic 5-year plan at the end of the school year and it will likely include facilities and bonds as priorities.
