The LHISD board of trustees approved moving three vacant portables from other campuses to Santa Rita Middle School at an April 21 meeting. The new classrooms will accommodate more students as the campus exceeds its capacity.
What’s happening
Santa Rita Middle School has an “immediate need for additional classroom space,” Director of Construction Dustin Akin said. The campus—located near Ronald Reagan Boulevard—is projected to enroll 1,450 students next school year, Akin said.
The middle school, which was built for a capacity of 1,200 students, enrolled around 1,254 students as of February, district officials said.
The board approved spending nearly $109,000 from the district's general fund to relocate two portables from Liberty Hill Elementary and a portable from Liberty Hill Middle School.
The three portables will provide six new classrooms for Santa Rita students and are expected to arrive before school begins in August, Akin said.
The discussion
Amid budgetary concerns, trustee Michael Ferguson asked if LHISD could relocate some Santa Rita Middle School students to the Legacy Ranch Middle School campus. The new middle school is currently housing Legacy Ranch High School students in ninth grade before the official high school opens in 2026.
Travis Motal, interim superintendent and chief of schools, said the district explored “every possible option” to accommodate enrollment growth at Santa Rita Middle School. Sending these students to Legacy Ranch Middle School could create transportation challenges, Motal said.
“I know it's a cost,” Motal said about relocating the portables. “I think it's probably the easiest one going forward as far as being able to keep the campus without having to change attendance boundaries.”
School board President Megan Parsons said the portables would be temporary and hopefully no longer needed after the district opens more schools.
“I hate having to put kids in portables, but unfortunately it's a necessary evil that we have to swallow that pill,” trustee Chris Neighbors said.
Zooming out
LHISD’s enrollment is projected to nearly double to 19,206 students by 2034, according to a recent demographic update by Zonda Education. The district had 9,999 students as of April 11 and is expected to welcome around 1,000 new students next school year, Motal said.
The district will open its eighth elementary school and second high school in 2026. At the April 21 meeting, Motal said the district expects to open an elementary school in 2028, a middle school in 2030 and a high school in 2031 or 2032.
Also of note
LHISD will put around $97,000 toward a new 2,000-square-foot portable for its transportation department. The current portable building was lost to a fire that occurred March 16, according to district information.
The district is expecting to open a new 33,000-square-foot transportation facility off US 183 by 2027 at the earliest, Akin said.
