Moody High School is looking to finish its new turf football field by the first home game on Aug. 26. The field was built with debt refinancing money.

Since the property tax rate was increased for Moody in the November election of last year, Principal Chris Walters said he is excited to begin moving dirt on future development for the school. The school will see what kind of additional funding will be available from the property tax on Oct. 1.

“Our community worked very hard to pass the property tax. They obviously stood up and said we’re going to support our schools and students.”

He said he’s most looking forward to the performing arts center that is currently in the works for construction.

“That performing arts center is going to be a really cool piece that’s going to add into the community and the entire community will benefit from it.”

Walters said the most important aspect to him is making sure the school system does right by the community and builds what Moody wants.

“Right now, what we’re doing with the architects is meeting and saying ‘here’s our needs and draw us a building.’”

In beginning to design the new building, Walters said it has been difficult due to the bond market being unstable right now.

“The vision and hope of what happens with that building, and how we grow and change over the years, is going to be super exciting because we are definitely growing,” said Walters.

“We don’t have any money right now to go leverage a bond, so we don’t know what we’re going to get.”

He said they have an idea of a range, which is giving the architects a general idea about what is doable for the school.

“It’s a lot of design work and on Oct. 1, we’ll be able to lock in a rate and see some things really finalize,” said Walters.

A lot of the first year and a half will be dirt work and landscaping the area to prepare for new building, according to Walters.

The building is part of planning and anticipation for the school to eventually grow from around 700 to 800 within the next four years.