The board of trustees unanimously approved the rezoning of a portion of Barton Creek Elementary students to Forest Trail Elementary during the Feb. 11 board meeting, ahead of the Barton Creek and Valley View Elementary blend next school year.
What’s happening?
Per the approved attendance zone map, Barton Creek students in planning units 273, 274 and 275 will be rezoned to Forest Trail.
The new map will make space for the rezoning of all Valley View students—consisting of planning units 201, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 303 and 304—to Barton Creek.
Last month, the board unanimously approved closing Valley View, effective with the 2025-26 school year, and blending the campus with Barton Creek.
Officials anticipate the blend will save the district around $2 million ahead of multimillion-dollar budget shortfalls projected in the coming years, mainly due to stagnant state funding.
Valley View has the lowest enrollment out of all EISD elementary campuses and is only at about 50% capacity. However, dozens of parents, students and other community members spoke out against the blend prior to the board's approval. Some said the two campuses should not be targeted as a result of a districtwide budget struggle and shared potential safety and campus capacity concerns.
Based on community feedback, one of the objectives with the blend was to keep Barton Creek’s enrollment under 700 students and maintain class ratios at 22 students to 1 teacher, said Chad Burnett, curriculum, instruction and assessment executive director, during the Jan. 28 board meeting.
What else?
Per the Jan. 28 meeting, EISD will implement other considerations to keep enrollment at the blended campus below 700, including:
- No new in- or out-of-district transfer students at Barton Creek or Forest Trail, including siblings, but employee transfer students will still be accepted at Barton Creek
- No grandfathering for rezoned students or out-of-district transfers at Barton Creek
- Current out-of-district transfers will be offered seats at other campuses based on preference and availability, and a lottery system may be used if necessary.
