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Board approves budget, bond issuance order, insurance and multiple purchases; approves playgrounds and roof projects
Summary
Red Oak ISD trustees voted unanimously on a package of fiscal and capital items Tuesday, adopting the 2025–26 budget, authorizing an initial bond sale, renewing district insurance and approving several vendor purchases and capital projects.
Red Oak ISD trustees voted unanimously on a package of fiscal and capital items Tuesday, adopting the 2025–26 budget, authorizing initial bond sale parameters, renewing district insurance, and approving several vendor purchases and capital projects.
Votes at a glance (each motion passed 5–0 unless noted):
- Consent agenda: Approved (motion by Mr. Knight; second by Mr. Sebring). The consent agenda contained 16 items and passed unanimously.
- Playground replacements (2025 bond projects): Approved purchase and installation from Playground Solutions of Texas using the Equalix/Qualis purchasing contract for playground structures and installation at every elementary campus. Motion recorded by the board as approving $2,081,478.73 and standardizing playground structures and canopies across campuses (mover: Ms. Knight; second: Mr. Kelly). Start anticipated within four weeks with many installations scheduled over the summer.
- District property and casualty insurance (2025–26): Approved renewal through the recommended broker and TPS/TIPS cooperative contract; administration reported a premium decrease of about $165,000 compared with the prior renewal (mover: Donna Knight; second: Mr. Sebring).
- Fiscal year 2025–26 budget and retroactive-pay resolution: The board adopted the general, student nutrition and debt-service funds and approved a resolution allowing the district to implement potential retroactive pay increases if additional state funds are awarded (mover: Mr. Sebring; second: Mr. Knight).
- Accelerated instruction/compensatory education budget: Approved a separate accelerated-instruction allocation of $2,996,000 as required by the state for low-income student supports (mover: Mr. Knight; second: Mr. Sebring).
- Bond issuance order: Approved an order authorizing the issuance of unlimited-tax school bonds, establishing sale parameters and related documents; administration said it will initially issue roughly $175 million of the voter‑approved roughly $214 million of bonds and may refund older issues as part of the process (mover: Mr. Sebring; second: Mr. Kelly).
- Red Oak ISD Education Foundation memorandum of understanding: Approved the 2025–26 MOU; the foundation committed $75,000 for district reimbursements this year and agreed to provide operational reimbursement at 20% of fundraising efforts as described in the MOU (mover: Mr. Sebring; second: Ms. Knight).
- Purchase of I‑Ready (Curriculum Associates) for K–8 diagnostics and instructional materials: Approved purchase for a total of $146,074.50 using BuyBoard contract 748-24 (mover: Mr. Sebring; second: Mr. Kelly). Administration said I‑Ready will be used as the district diagnostic to replace MAP and to support Tiered instruction and TIA measures.
- Renewal of Canvas learning management system: Approved renewal for $60,740.03 using the Omnia contract (mover: Ms. Knight; second: Mr. Sebring).
- Red Oak Middle School roof: Approved purchase and installation of a 60-mil Duro‑Last roof for the RMS main building and band hall for $994,326 using the TIPS contract (mover: Mr. Sebring; second: Ms. Natt).
- AP textbooks: The board did not approve the recommended hardback AP textbook purchase at this meeting. Trustees asked administration for an alternative proposal that would emphasize an online-only option or a smaller class set; the textbook purchase was tabled for future consideration.
What administrators said: CFO and budget staff told the board that the insurance premium drop largely offset the added insurance exposure from the new campus; budget staff recommended adoption of the resolution allowing retroactive salary adjustments if state funds arrive. Bond and finance staff said the district intends to sell an initial tranche in late July to complete a sale in August.
Next steps: Administrators will proceed with vendor contracts and project scheduling, bring back alternative AP-textbook purchase options for further board consideration, and complete required bond sale documents for late‑July/early‑August marketing and sale.
