What to watch: The Midland ISD Board of Trustees meets Tuesday, Feb. 17, with major decisions on closing Lamar Elementary, new attendance boundaries, state-mandated policy vote on prayer, teacher certification rules, and a proposed outside partnership with Third Future Schools to operate South Elementary.

Trustees will also hold the required public hearing on the district’s annual performance report and review improvement plans for IDEA Travis, General Tommy Franks Elementary, Pease Communications & Technology Academy, Alamo Junior High, and Legacy High School, identified for targeted academic support.

  • Facility repurpose: MISD administration recommends closing Lamar Elementary as a neighborhood campus at the end of the school year and repurposing the building as the new Midland Alternative Placement (MAP) campus serving disciplinary students. The district would reassign students from Lamar to Bonham, Burnet, Jane Long, and De Zavala elementary schools.

Trustees will consider the sale of the district’s current MAP property. The proposal follows three years of enrollment and facility reviews and comes as district enrollment has fallen below projections for the first time. Third Future’s partnership at Lamar will already expire on June 30. The board will also consider approving new elementary attendance boundaries for the 2026–2027 school year.

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  • South Elementary: Trustees will consider approving a partnership with Third Future Schools to operate South Elementary for the next three years.
  • Prayer policy: State law requires every Texas school board to take a recorded vote by March 1 on whether to adopt a policy establishing a daily period for prayer or reading religious texts. MISD administration recommended that the board decline adoption.

  • Annual performance: State law requires districts to publicly present performance data each year, including student achievement disaggregated by ethnicity and socioeconomic status, staffing and program information, progress on campus improvement, and student demographics. Trustees will also review state data showing how the district’s 2023–2024 graduates performed during their first year of college.

  • Teacher certification: MISD administration is seeking board approval to request a delay in implementing new teacher certification rules created under House Bill 2. MISD’s current District of Innovation plan allows the district to employ some teachers without traditional certification requirements. The state is phasing out that flexibility.

  • Local policies: Trustees will consider adopting a large package of local policy changes required to align district operations with recent legislation. These include allowing parents of currently enrolled students priority speaking time at the beginning of meetings, mandating the posting of course syllabi online, strengthening parental review rights for instructional materials, and more.

  • Improvement plans: Trustees will receive informational updates on improvement plans for General Tommy Franks Elementary, Pease Communications & Technology Academy, Alamo Junior High, and Legacy High School. These plans apply to campuses identified for targeted support or low performance under state accountability standards.

  • Early childhood progress: Trustees will receive a mid-year update on Pre-K math and phonological awareness goals. The report will present district-wide middle-of-year assessment data, identify strengths and priority areas for improvement, and outline instructional adjustments intended to keep students on track for end-of-year grade-level expectations.

  • IDEA Travis: Trustees will consider approving an improvement plan for IDEA Travis. The plan identifies the root causes of low performance, outlines instructional changes, and establishes monitoring requirements tied to the implementation of high-quality instructional materials and research-based teaching practices.

  • Legal services: Trustees will consider replacing the board’s hourly legal services agreement with a flat-fee contract of $12,500 per month. District analysis estimates the change would reduce legal spending by approximately $5,000 per month.