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Bill Spinks wspinks@cherryroad.com The Texas Education Agency has given Midlothian ISD its financial report card, and there was some very good news: The district has achieved a Superior rating from the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST) program for the 22nd year in a row. During a public hearing on the School FIRST program at Monday’s regular monthly meeting, Dr. Rebecca Metzger, assistant superintendent of business and operations, informed MISD trustees that the district received a score of 94 out of a possible 100 in its latest evaluation, which involved the 2022-2023 school year. All school districts in the state are rated in 21 areas of school finances. Metzger said a number of categories are pass-fail, meaning if districts failed the area, they either failed the entire rating or were docked up to as much as 30 points. Of course, MISD passed all of these areas. The only areas where the district was dinged were in assets-to-liabilities ratio, where MISD slipped under the 3-to-1 recommended ratio and earned only six of a possible 10 points; and in correlation between future debt requirements and the district’s assessed property value, where MISD was given eight of 10 points. The district also met all School FIRST disclosure requirements, Metzger said. At the conclusion of the meeting, board president Gary Vineyard remarked on how extraordinary the 22-year MISD streak of being rated Superior is. “That doesn’t just happen,” Vineyard said. “I want to give credit to our admin, our boards over the years. It’s a combination of the hard work that we do here at the board, the hard work that our admin has done and has done over the last 22 years to put us in this position. It’s a very, very big deal, and I hope we can continue that trend […]