HMS Board approves putting $50M bond issue on ballot
Andy Brosig/News-Sun
Voters in the Hobbs Municipal Schools district will be asked to approve a $50 million bond issue in November to address crowded conditions in the district’s three middle schools.
Superintendent Gene Strickland presented a resolution to the Hobbs Municipal Schools Board of Education on Monday, calling for a new bond election to be placed on the ballot for the next general election, on Nov. 7 this year.
Due to changes made by the New Mexico State Legislature last year, all municipal elections — including school bond issues — now follow the state’s regular election cycle and must run congruently with other elections, Strickland said.
Examining the district’s middle schools has “been in … process for a number of years,” Strickland said.
The district’s Facilities Assessment Community Team went to work last fall, looking seriously at overcrowded conditions at Heizer, Highland and Houston middle schools in Hobbs.
Through a series of meetings over the intervening months, the group determined the solution is to build a fourth middle school at a site yet to be determined and replace the current Heizer Middle School, Strickland told the board Monday.
Setting the bond election for November was somewhat pro-forma, based on the election law changes, he said. Those legislative changes mandate certain lead times on different requirements to call an election to get issues on the official ballots.
Just before the end of the 2022-23 school year, the FACT group proposed the district accept recommendations to proceed with the middle school projects from consultant Marilyn Strube. District officials are scheduled to appear before the New Mexico School Capital Outlay Council — the agency that essentially controls the purse strings on state money for school construction along with the state’s Public Schools Facility Authority — in August to provide the results of a population study at Heizer Middle School that indicates the need for additional student capacity across the district, Strickland said.
Before school enrollment declined across the state with the onset of government restrictions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, Houston and Highland middle schools in Hobbs housed about 1,000 students, significantly greater than working capacity, Strickland said.
“We knew we had to do something,” he said. “Heizer is at capacity as well. It wasn’t grossly over capacity like Houston and Highland were, but it is over capacity.”
And that pressure is only going to get worse as enrollment growth returns to pre-pandemic levels, Strickland said.
Though Hobbs Schools haven’t rebounded yet to the number of students in the schools before COVID-19, the annual rate of growth is edging back to the pre-pandemic 1.5 to 2 percent range, he said.
“We have recovered a good percentage of our enrollment,” Strickland said. “We’re reported that the past two years with our enrollment continuing to increase.”
The board voted unanimously to proceed with scheduling the bond election for Nov. 7.
In other business:
• Approved pursuing annual federal Title funding applications by the district.
Title I provides financial assistance to districts with large number or percentages of students from low-income families to help children meet state academic standards. Title I funding for the 2023-24 school year totals a projected $2.2 million.
Title II funding, provides a variety of funding for teachers for ongoing education, salaries, safety compliance training for staff and more. The district will request more than $318,000 for the coming school year.
The district will apply for almost $205,000 in Title III funding for language classes for English learners and immigrant students.
Title IV funding pays for student support through tutoring, professional development, salaries and benefits for College and Career Counselor, student travel for local college visits and more. The district will apply for more than $173,000, combined with a carryover from the last school year of $364,000.
• Voted unanimously to adopt the so-called “Portrait of and Eagle.”
• Voted unanimously to approved changes to the 2023-24 student handbook primarily for clarification of language and bringing sections of the handbook into line with existing board policy.
• Voted unanimously to approve a Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Hobbs for use of Rockwinds Community Links for golf team practices and two golf tournaments during the 2023-24 school year.
• Voted unanimously to approve the annual adoption of provisions of the New Mexico Open Meetings Act.
• The next regular meeting of the Hobbs Schools Board of Education will be 6 p.m. Aug. 15 at the district offices, 1515 E. Sanger St., in Hobbs.
