September 2024

Bill Spinks wspinks@cherryroad.com After a slowdown in 2023 due to higher home mortgage interest rates, growth within the boundaries of Midlothian ISD has picked up once again, MISD trustees were informed during Monday night’s monthly board meeting. District demographer Brent Alexander painted a picture of home construction activity that was a lot rosier than a year ago, when interest rates spiked. MISD’s population is estimated at more than 59,000 at present, which is up more than 10,000 from four years ago. However, Alexander noted, the rate of growth in school-age population has been slower, with an average rate of 3.3 percent per year since 2020. Alexander said the district, which has a current capacity of 14,600 students, should be able to get to the 2030-2031 school year at the earliest before new capacity would need to be added. Superintendent Dr. David Belding hailed the type of growth MISD is experiencing. “It’s good, solid incremental growth,” Belding said. “It’s not exponential growth, and that’s positive for everyone.” The most housing starts have taken place in the Vitovsky Elementary School attendance zone, while Longbranch Elementary has seen the most closings, Alexander said. Those two schools, plus Baxter Elementary, are adding more potential students than the other five elementaries within MISD. Walnut Grove and Dieterich Middle Schools are sharing in the growth as well, and Midlothian High School is outpacing Heritage High in both starts and closings with activity in the northwest portion of the district, Alexander showed. MISD includes not only the city of Midlothian, but also portions of Grand Prairie, Venus, Mansfield, Waxahachie, Cedar Hill and Ovilla, as well as unincorporated areas of Ellis County. In the second quarter of 2024, new homebuilders within MISD started 313 new homes, while 300 new homes were occupied. Alexander said the occupancy was just […]