Inside MFISD’s props C and D: ‘Are we OK being OK?’
The aging scoreboard at Marble Falls High School’s Mustang Stadium would be replaced with a new, state-of-the-art digital scoreboard if Proposition C of the Marble Falls Independent School District’s bond package passes May 3. Staff photos by Dakota Morrissiey
EDITOR’S NOTE: Four propositions—A, B, C, and D—totaling $172.2 million worth of bonds for the 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. About $133.6 million is dedicated to propositions A and B for districtwide campus improvements and technology upgrades. Read more about these propositions in the April 21 DailyTrib.com story “Inside MFISD’s Props A and B: Long lines, no space, no time.”
“Are we OK being OK?”
Marble Falls High School athletic director and head football coach Keri Timmerman posed this question during an interview with DailyTrib.com. He was referring to propositions C and D in a $172.2 million bond package that the Marble Falls Independent School District has placed before voters in the May 3 election.
Prop C comes in at $12.15 million, which would be used for new locker rooms, new turf fields, and a state-of-the-art digital scoreboard on the high school football field. Prop D, at $26.05 million, would pay for a multi-purpose indoor practice facility featuring a 60-yard turf field, track lanes, new weight room, and attached auxiliary gym.
Timmerman said MFHS athletics will persist and improve, whether or not the propositions pass, but he believes the funding would create better opportunities for the student-athletes and keep them in the fight against competition that has access to more extensive training resources.
“Athletics, in a lot of ways, and fine arts are the front porch of the school,” he said. “If you’re selling a house and the front porch is broken down and rickety, no one is going to look at the inside of the house, whether it’s the Taj Mahal or not.”
MULTI-PURPOSE FACILITY
Outdoor athletes miss 8-10 percent of their practices due to restrictive University Interscholastic League regulations that prevent training in adverse weather. If it gets too hot, too cold, too much rain falls, or lightning strikes nearby, teams practicing outside have to call it quits.
“(The percentage of missed practices) doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you’re talking about three to four days a week to practice, and if you lose one of those days, that’s a large percentage of your week,” Timmerman explained. “That is a huge deficit gap when you add it up over four years or the length of a season.”
With an indoor training facility, football, baseball, softball, soccer, track, band, and any other outdoor team could practice regardless of the weather. MFISD’s immediate neighbors—Llano ISD, Burnet Consolidated ISD, and Lago Vista ISD—all have indoor training facilities, giving them a slight edge in practice days.
Timmerman acknowledged that he and many others grew up playing sports in Texas without the UIL’s safety standards, but they are now an integrated part of modern coaching.
“I think the old man in me thinks, ‘Man, we were tougher than that,’ but the reality is that we didn’t understand what (weather-related health issues) we were suffering from or dealing with,” he said. “I think the argument of ‘old school says we don’t need it,’ well, we’re not there anymore and the regulations have changed. We’re not going to suddenly go back to those, so arguing is kind of a moot point. How are we going to adapt and overcome?”
Even in good weather, the multi-purpose facility and auxiliary gym could be used as extra practice space for the long list of teams year-round. The new weight room would take some of the burden off of MFHS’ current weight room, which serves hundreds of high school and middle school athletes at a time during summer conditioning.
“We’re trying to get as many kids as we can, as much coaching as we can, as much training as we can within a limited space and a limited time,” Timmerman explained.
TURF, LOCKER ROOMS AND SCOREBOARD
Proposition C would address the high school’s turf fields and its turfless terrain. It would also tackle the lack of locker room space for many of the athletes and provide a sleek, major upgrade to Mustang Stadium’s dated scoreboard.
“Have you ever had to double up boys after 110-degree practice, and you got sweaty pads hanging up and trying not to get mold, mildew, and staph?” Timmerman asked DailyTrib.com. “It’s a little different.”
The shortage of locker room space isn’t limited to football. The boys’ junior varsity baseball squad uses the visiting team’s locker room in Max Copeland Gym to change and store their stuff before heading to the diamond. Dozens of players from other squads have to keep their things in distant locations and share the same showers and storage space.
“You could point to thing after thing after thing that is not optimal,” Timmerman said. “It’s workable, but it’s not optimal.”
Also “not optimal” is the baseball and softball teams not having turf. When it rains, players miss practices waiting for the dirt-grass fields to dry.
The bond would relocate and turf up a new baseball field and install turf on the current softball field.
A portion of the Prop C money would be set aside to replace the turf at Mustang Stadium when it becomes necessary, as the current turf is set to reach the end of its lifespan within the next five years.
Timmerman said the proposed digital scoreboard would be an opportunity for other groups to collaborate with athletics, including audio-visual club usage, screening highlight reels, conducting live interviews, and airing commercials, upping the overall quality of the stadium experience.
“I think a lot of people get lost on athletics asking for a lot,” Timmerman said. “Well, it is a lot, but we are also looking at a $172 million bond that is trying to repair every facet of our school and build it (up for) all of our kids. Will we be unsuccessful without it? I could say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ My goal would be that, no matter what the obstacle, we would try to be successful where we are.”
3 thoughts on “Inside MFISD’s props C and D: ‘Are we OK being OK?’”
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The issue I see with prop c and d is this. They want to tear down the ball field and put the new building on that spot. The cost increased by going that route. They could have just upgraded that field and put the new building where they are going to build a new ball field. And wanting an 800k scoreboard is ridiculous.
Let’s better define.
Relocate and returf = build entire new baseball stadium.
Math lesson – reports 8 to 10% of practices missed. Coach claim makes it sound worse like 25%.
But most insulting is the claim that the quality of our school, and by insinuation our community, is dictated by athletics. Let’s try something new and ensure our kids are taught, our scores are up, our graduation rate is increased, and our teachers paid better (not heavy added levels of admin that came with COVID money and now trying to justify…like out of state administration consultants we fly in from other states). The quality of the public EDUCATION is what is fueling the school voucher/savings arguments in Austin. If we were educating as hard as we try and justify athletic spending and building better educated and better behaved students perhaps athletics would improve as well. And if they dont and we are stellar in actually providing a better educated graduate, don’t we all still win?
Vote NO to C and D!
Do we really need an $800,000 scoreboard?