The Magnolia Independent School District has once again earned a “Superior” rating in the State of Texas’ Financial Integrity Rating System (FIRST).

The rating, which financial officer Erich Morris calls the “state’s version of a financial report card,” rates school districts based on 24 different indicators, which are each rated at different amounts depending on importance.

Of the four levels of achievement ratings, Superior is the highest. With 85 as the highest score a district can attain, a superior rating requires a district to earn 75-85 points.

MISD earned an 83.

“The board received it well, it was a good report,” Morris said. “We would like to be perfect, but we feel good about it.”

Two indicators that the district made the mark on were missed by 41 percent of other school districts in Texas.

The indicators have to do with the districts’ spending on instruction and the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) 65 percent guideline, which calls for districts to spend 65 percent of their budgets on instruction.

The rating program began in 2001, and has been used as a “barometer” for school districts in Texas, said Morris.

Since its inception, MISD has earned a “Superior” rating every year.

In other MISD news, during the Oct. 12 meeting, the school board approved the re-financing of a bond started in 1999 for $30 million for construction.

By re-financing the bond, which will not extend the payment life, scheduled to be paid off in 2022, the district will save $120,000 a year, which would add up to a total savings of between $1.3 and $1.5 million, said Morris.

Morris said the decision is smart because it is taking advantage of current market conditions, which put finance rates lower than they were in 1999, when the bond was started.

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