As a Jan. 9 board of trustees meeting, district officials provided an update on the work of its Long-Range Planning Committee during the 2023-24 school year. The presentation focused on ways LISD could repurpose its campuses, attract more students and provide different educational experiences.
“We’ve seen from demographics that things are evolving. Things are changing,” Chief Operations Officer Jeremy Trimble said. “Our campuses, our facilities need to be able to adapt to those different changes."
What happened
Last school year, the district’s Long-Range Planning Committee of district officials, staff, parents and students explored how LISD could best utilize its facilities by repurposing them, said Jayme Spexarth, principal of Stiles Middle School.
The committee identified which campuses have student enrollment under 60% and created an evaluation matrix and rubric to evaluate them for repurposing. Campuses were ranked on how optimal they were for repurposing based on several factors, including:
- Location
- Current and future student capacity
- Enrollment
- Seats available in adjacent campuses
- Cost per student
- Age of the facility and/or the year it received renovations
- Teacher staffing
Some scenarios included reducing grade levels at certain campuses, combining schools, opening an intermediate school and repurposing campuses to serve as a district multipurpose facility, according to the presentation.
The district has not made any decisions related to the ideas and scenarios shared during the meeting, Superintendent Bruce Gearing said in a video posted on the district’s website Jan. 10.
What else?
District officials continued discussions about opening enrollment to students living outside of LISD’s boundaries. The district has considered opening enrollment as its enrollment growth has slowed and it faces a mounting budget shortfall.
Trimble presented the impact of other local school districts opening their enrollment, with Eanes ISD gaining as few as 45 students while Round Rock ISD gained as many as 195 students after implementing an open enrollment policy, according to the presentation.
If an additional 100 students attended LISD, the district estimates receiving a $400,00 net increase in revenue, said Melody Maples, LISD executive director of the Office of Educational Access.
The district would receive $6,160 in state funding for each student who transferred in and would implement a fee to offset costs for processing their applications, Maples said. LISD may need to spend around $60,000 to hire an additional staff member, she said.
Additionally, the LRPC proposed launching a marketing campaign focused on attracting more students residing inside LISD’s boundaries, which several board members expressed their support for.
One more thing
LISD is considering opening innovative academies that could provide specialized instruction or programs.
The LRPC recommended opening Elementary School No. 31 as a traditional campus in 2028 near FM 2243 and CR 175 once future roadwork is completed, Trimble said. Meanwhile, Elementary School No. 32 could be opened as an innovative academy as it has not yet been designed, he said.
The new elementary campuses were approved by voters in the district’s 2023 bond election.
The LRPC shared their ideas for various innovative academy programs, including schools focused on:
- Accelerated academies based on mastery
- Personalized learning and student leadership
- Innovative career readiness
- Community-powered equitable learning
District administration will use the tools developed by the LRPC to bring recommendations to the board at a later date, Gearing said.
At the Jan. 9 meeting, the board asked administrators to develop a recommendation related to open enrollment, including a phased rollout plan. LISD would need to revise its board policy to allow for out-of-district transfers, according to district information.
