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 shy of the quarterly record set in April-June 2022.

With 722 new lots delivered over the past year, and more than 30,000 future single-family lots planned, Alexander sees the trend continuing forward.

A big driver in growth, Alexander said, is mortgage rates. As rates fluctuate with the market, they affect home sales, and recent lower rates have sparked sales once again in 2024 after a slowdown in 2023. Alexander pointed out that 7 percent appears to be an inflection point for prospective buyers, but the overall trend for lower rates is positive.

On the other hand, a softening job market could put the brakes on growth. In Dallas-Fort Worth, Alexander said, job growth has cooled, dropping from 100,000 new jobs per year to about 60,000 this year.

All seven members of the board were present.

Other items

• District chief academic officer Shelle Blaylock and chief human capital officer Dr. Aaron Williams gave a presentation on a strategic plan for a leadership development program within MISD.
• Midlothian High School soccer All-State and All-American student-athletes were recognized by the board.
• In a new feature, Campus Spotlight, administrators and students from LaRue Miller Elementary and Walnut Grove Middle School gave presentations to trustees.
• The approved consent agenda included previous meeting minutes; resolutions to change authorized signers for Texpool and Lone Star; a Title I schoolwide eligibility waiver for Baxter Elementary; and a notice of election for the Nov. 5 special election.
• Three items — changes to legal and local policies; approval of gifts and donations; and an election contract with Ellis County for the Nov. 5 election — were pulled from the consent agenda and approved separately.
• The board received a report on June end-of-course scores, and discussed the district and campus improvement plans for 2024-2025.
• The board nominated the five current members of the Ellis County Appraisal Board for the 2025 election ballot.