Era ISD earns an A as the board weighed rates and a gym

ERA, Texas — Era ISD says the state gave the district an A for 2025-26 and a superior rating, with a perfect score, on the state’s school financial report card. Superintendent Jeff Webb told families the A reflects student performance and the work of teachers. The Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas, called FIRST, reviews how a district handles its money. Webb wrote that a superior rating means Era is meeting that standard. He credited students, staff, the board, and the community, and he said an A is a reason to keep going. The letter does not give a numeric score beyond the A. The board’s Sept. 21 agenda, the same week as that letter, asked trustees to set 2026-27 tax rates and to price a new gym. A public hearing on the proposed maintenance and operations rate and the interest and sinking rate was on the agenda. Two ordinances asked the board to consider a maintenance and operations rate of $0.6134 per $100 and an interest and sinking rate of $0.1286. Those are requests on the agenda. The posting is not a record of how trustees voted. The gym lines asked the board to consider a guaranteed maximum price and a notice to proceed. A district update says the old gym’s wooden arches started to come apart sometime before 1985. The district installed steel sleeves that year as a temporary brace. The post says the sleeves were never meant to stop the wood itself from failing, and that the patch lasted nearly 40 years. The district now says a lasting repair of the old building is no longer workable. The plan is a new gym in the old footprint, closer to a competition gym than a practice gym. The district’s scope includes a full basketball and volleyball court, side goals, wood flooring, heating and cooling, LED lights, and two single-use restrooms, with room later for locker rooms. The target opening is August 2027. Design still depends on bids, and the agenda does not print a dollar amount for the guaranteed price. The district has stored the center-court Hornets logos from the last two gym floors and plans to use them in the new building. Portable classrooms are set aside as temporary locker rooms. Goods from the old gym are listed for auction at reneebates.com. Anyone who wants to see the old gym before demolition can call or email the district to schedule a visit. Webb’s letter and the gym update are on eraisd.net. The Sept. 21 agenda is on BoardBook.