While the school's total capacity at opening will be 750 students, Templeton said he estimates the impact to be about 350 students zoned for GISD leaving the district.
In a nutshell
When Harmony Science Academy Georgetown opens this fall, it will bring the total number of charter schools in Georgetown to three, joining Gateway College Preparatory School and Goodwater Montessori.
The school will serve kindergarten through sixth grade, adding a grade level each year, said Tracie Seed, Central Texas director of communication and marketing for Harmony Public Schools, with the plan to serve kindergarten through 12th grade.
Seed said the school anticipates that students will come from not just Georgetown, but in the surrounding areas of Round Rock, Liberty Hill and Hutto.
As previously reported by Community Impact, about 1,500 students zoned for GISD in the 2022-23 school year left the district to attend a charter school.
What they're saying
The charter school's opening has raised concern in budgetary discussions held by GISD, as a factor of uncertainty amid assessments of potential impacts, GISD's Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Hanna said in a Feb. 3 board workshop.
Despite the small setback, Templeton said the district is still on track to reach a total enrollment of 16,300 students by the 2029-30 school year, and 19,900 by the 2034-35 school year, as the area experiences housing growth.
For the most part, charter schools are moving into Austin suburbs, he said, such as nearby Leander. Harmony Public Schools also broke ground on a campus there in May.
"Leander's had several charter schools open in the last couple of years, and so the charters are just moving into the north," he said. "They're also moving south as well."
How it works
Templeton said the Zonda Education projections for enrollment growth in GISD are based on housing trends. Based on data from the fourth quarter of 2024, Georgetown ISD has 51 actively building subdivisions with around 3,000 lots ready to build homes on.
When it comes to future development, there are also 28 planned subdivisions with more than 19,000 lots in various stages of planning, he said.
