Inside MFISD’s Props A and B: Long lines, no space, no time

EDITOR’S NOTE: Four propositions—A, B, C, and D—totaling $172.2 million worth of bonds for Marble Falls Independent School District are on the May 3 ballot. The bonds would be used to make districtwide repairs and improvements, replace student and staff technology, upgrade athletic facilities, and build a new multi-purpose indoor training facility. The bond package, as proposed, would not result in a tax rate increase. Learn more about it on MFISD’s webpage, loveandinspire.com, and in the April 14 DailyTrib.com story MFISD to voters: Bond will not increase property tax rate.

Marble Falls Middle School art teachers store student projects outdoors because there is no room inside. Parents wait in lines a quarter-mile long, backing up to RR 1431, when dropping off their children at Highland Lakes Elementary School in Granite Shoals. Marble Falls High School welding students might only get 10 minutes a day to weld due to overcrowding. These are just a few of the issues within the Marble Falls Independent School District that could be addressed by a proposed $172.2 million bond package on the May 3 ballot.

The lion’s share of the package is for propositions A and B, around $133.6 million, which would pay for foundational infrastructure improvements across campuses and set aside funds for replacing and improving student and staff technology.

“Our community is worth it,” Damon Farmer, a leading member of the Vote Yes for MFISD Kids PAC, told DailyTrib.com. “We can sit here and go through the minimum, but why? Do we want a minimum-sized work ethic? Do we want a minimum-sized workforce? We want to have a thriving community, and this is one thing we need to reinvest in.”

Farmer has two children, one in MFISD and the other already graduated, with wife Tracy, a teacher at Colt Elementary School in Marble Falls. He and other residents were galvanized by the failure of the MFISD voter-approved tax rate election in November 2024, which ultimately led to the cutting of 35-40 staff positions, including 20 teachers. 

Another PAC member, Kristen Ribera, is a fourth-generation Mustang. She and her husband, also a MFHS graduate, have two children at Colt Elementary. Ribera was part of the 60-plus-member MFISD Community Advisory Committee that helped develop the bond package.

“For me and my husband, as graduates of Marble Falls High School, we came back to our town to raise our kids, and the facilities look the same (as when they graduated 15 years ago),” she said. “We just want our kids to be proud to grow up here. I want my friends to want to come back and raise their kids here.”

WHAT’S THE MONEY FOR?

Marble Falls ISD has seven campuses and about 4,000 students. Attendance is expected to rise in the coming years, and many of the campuses are in desperate need of improvements to accommodate current needs, let alone those in the future.

Proposition B is straightforward. It dedicates $2.2 million toward replacing technological devices, including computers and tablets, which are used on a daily basis by all students and staff.

Proposition A would cover major infrastructure upgrades, like added drop-off and pick-up lanes to aid with vehicle circulation at Highland Lakes and Spicewood elementary schools. That traffic currently extends from their front doors to the major thoroughfares that lead to the schools: RR 1431 and Spur 191, respectively.

“It’s horrendous,” said Granite Shoals Police Chief John Ortis, referring to the traffic surrounding Highland Lakes Elementary during pick-up and drop-off. “It has become a logistical nightmare.”

Ortis explained that directing traffic around the school sometimes requires six officers, and lengthy backups along RR 1431 and Phillips Ranch Road, the city’s main thoroughfare, impede entry into Commercial National Bank. 

Prop A would also fund needed expansions and ADA-compliant playgrounds on the elementary campuses, a Marble Falls Middle School expansion so it can replace its aging portable buildings, and a new Marble Falls High School band hall and drill team facility.

In this case, the terms “additions” and “expansions” could mean adding on to existing structures or building new spaces.

Some of the biggest additions will be made to the Marble Falls High School Career Technology Education facilities. About 92 percent of Marble Falls high schoolers participate in some form of CTE, which includes 13 areas of study that prepare the students for work after they graduate.

“We have more kids than ever wanting to take those (CTE) courses,” MFHS Principal Patrick Hinson said. “Preparing our kids, we’ve got to give them more than a shop class. We want to make sure that every graduate that walks across our stage is prepared for whatever they want to be doing.”

Two of the most popular CTE courses are Agriculture Technology & Mechanical Systems (welding and fabrication) and Carpentry (construction).

Victoria Ribeck, one of the school’s two agriculture-mechanical teachers, said some of her students only get to weld for around 10 minutes per class. The school currently has 10 welding bays that have to serve 30-40 students at a time, meaning some kids might not weld at all, depending on the project they’re working on.

The proposed bond would double the number of welding bays, doubling the amount of time students can work.

Carpentry students have a different time issue: having to walk across campus from their classroom to the shop, which cuts into valuable working minutes.

“If the bond passes, God willing, we’re getting added classrooms out here, which will give me direct access to our shop,” said Karl Bielfeldt, Carpentry teacher and powerlifting coach. “We get maybe 20 minutes of good actual shop time. Really, what the bond is going to help with is we get more shop time.”

Despite the constraints, Marble Falls CTE students perform exceptionally well, competing and winning at the state level in their chosen trades.

The bond would also address another successful MFHS program, the theater department, which practices and performs in a space that has not been renovated since it was built in the 1980s. MFHS theater students are on a hot streak, regularly advancing to regional and state competitions over the past nine years for their one-act plays. They do this despite of a home stage that is about 15 feet shorter than a standard high school stage.

“It’s kind of like asking the football players to practice on an 80-yard field,” explained theater director Jon Clark. “Because of the spacing issues, it puts us at a disadvantage—flat out. With the lack of depth of our stage, it’s really hard to replicate the stages that we’re competing on.”

Prop A includes an MFHS auditorium renovation and stage upgrade.

Marble Falls Middle School would also see badly needed expansions if the bond package passes.

Due to a lack of space and storage, equipment and furniture are stored in hallways and classrooms, hundreds of students have to share minimal space for extracurriculars, like weightlifting and dance, and in the case of art classes, work and materials often have to be kept outside.

“Essentially, nothing should be outside. It’s all art supplies (and student artwork),” MFMS art teacher Andrea Olfers said. 

All available space within Olfers’ classroom was occupied during a visit by DailyTrib.com. Dozens of student sculptures were outside, exposed to the elements. Materials were also being stored in the kiln room, and had to be removed anytime the kiln was heated up for pottery and ceramic projects. 

Other middle school facilities lacked usable space altogether, like science teacher Evangelina Longoria’s classroom, which had no lab space to conduct, of all things, labs.

“We don’t have more traditional lab tables. We have just the sink area to perform any kind of lab,” she said.

Beyond school upgrades, Marble Falls Middle School is rife with maintenance and renovation needs. Maintenance head Peter Missaggia pointed out several key concerns, including rotting ceiling tiles, mismatched floor tiles, old and new leaks at entryways, and rusted restroom fixtures.

“We do the best we can with keeping everything as clean as we possibly can. It’s just everything is so old,” he said. “When we get rain, I am constantly running around picking up water from the leaks. I have no storage, I can’t keep desks anywhere, I have no access to furniture.”

MFMS Principal Rudy Gonzalez told DailyTrib.com it is important to him that students, parents, and the community see their schools in a positive light.

“For me, as the principal, in my experience, it is important that the students take pride when they come to school,” he said. “When parents come here, we want to be able to showcase the best in our district. It’s important to me that it is in shape and kept up.”

Marble Falls High School Principal Hinson echoed Gonzalez’s sentiments.

“We take pride in the fact that (the students) represent our community,” he said. “They spend 13 years with us, eight hours a day. That is a lot of time they spend with us. We just want to make sure they’ve got the best opportunity to be the most successful they can.”

dakota@thepicayune.com