Mansfield ISD Magazine Fall 2020 | Page 7

BOND REFUNDING WILL SAVE DISTRICT MORE THAN $ 50M

After the approval to pursue a refunding of bond money , Mansfield ISD is anticipating a savings of more than $ 50 million in debt service payments .

Bond refunding allows the district to exchange its higher-interest debt for that of a lower rate — similar to refinancing a home mortgage .
Since 2010 , the district has saved taxpayers a total of $ 65.9 million through bond refunding . In addition to that , MISD will save more than $ 50 million over the next 25 years with this latest bond refunding .
“ This is really good news ,” said Board President Karen Marcucci . “ Our students really are the ones who benefit from this . We work diligently to be good stewards of the money given to us ; so when we can save taxpayer dollars while maintaining the integrity of the education and programming we provide , that ’ s a win .”
On Sept . 22 , the school board approved the motion to allow staff members to work with the authorizing financial team in order to issue the refunding bond at the best time , without further approval at a future board meeting , since interest rates are at historic lows .
MISD has maintained outstanding ratings from Moody ’ s , Standard & Poor ’ s ( S & P ) and Fitch Ratings , the top three credit rating agencies , which allows the district to achieve the lowest interest rates available for bond financings .
Mansfield ISD also has no capital appreciation bonds ( CABs ), which many other fast-growing districts have accrued . The interest on a CAB keeps compounding until payment is due , causing the interest-to-principal payback ratio to be significantly higher than traditional bonds .

BOARD ELECTION RESULTS

Warren Davis

After General Election

Day on Nov . 3 , Mansfield ISD will be welcoming
a new school board
member and preparing
for a runoff election .
Warren Davis ran
uncontested for the Place 6
seat . The seat was previously
held by Darrell Sneed ,
who decided to retire and not run for re-election .
Davis is scheduled to be sworn in at the regular school board meeting on Nov . 17 .
For the Place 7 seat , there will be a special runoff election on Dec . 8 to determine the winner .
The runoff will be between the top two finishers in the Place 7 race because no candidate took the majority of the votes . A majority happens when a candidate receives more than 50 % of the votes .
Early voting for the runoff election will run Nov . 23 through Dec . 4 before the runoff election day on Tuesday , Dec . 8 .
The MISD school board election was originally scheduled for May 2 . In March , the MISD school board approved to postpone the election until Nov . 3 in light of the coronavirus outbreak .
More information about the runoff election can be found online at www . mansfieldisd . org .
Unofficial results showed that
Yolanda McPherson received
approximately 42 % of the
Courtney Lackey Wilson
Yolanda McPherson
votes . Incumbent Courtney Lackey Wilson received approximately 40 % of votes .
MANSFIELDTODAY 7