AISD administration in conjunction with Zonda Education, a demographer that helps project future enrollment for districts in Texas, drew updated zoning lines to provide relief to campuses Argyle West and Argyle South, which are approaching capacity as the district’s growth is poised to exceed 10,000 students by 2033, Stewart said.
The details
AISD’s new campus opening next summer, currently known as Elementary School No. 4 until an official name is chosen at a Dec. 18 meeting, will absorb students from both Argyle West and Argyle South as well as a small portion from Hilltop Elementary east of I-35W.
Under the proposed rezone, students living in the Harvest by Hillwood housing development near I-35W who were enrolled at Argyle South would attend the new school as well those in the northern and northwestern portions of the Argyle West zone near Old Justin Road, according to the zoning map. This would shrink the size of West’s zone considerably.
Both Argyle South and Argyle West have a capacity of 850 students, according to documents in the proposal. The projected enrollment for the 2024-25 school year for both schools is 1,050, an increase of 23%. By 2033 those numbers would be 2,110 and 1,718 students, respectively.
The addition of Elementary School No. 4 paired with the administration’s new recommended zones would drop next year's estimated enrollment to 781 students for Argyle South and 628 for Argyle West, staving off the need for relief until the 2026-27 school year for the former and 2028-29 for the latter, said Zonda Education consultant Hudson Huff.
“We take this information related to anticipated growth as well as existing enrollment, and then we will move lines around the district to try to find the best possible scenario when evaluating campus enrollment for the next several years,” Huff said.
What else?
As district enrollment continues to grow, additional schools will become increasingly necessary. In its 10-year strategic growth plan, the administration is slated to construct a new school every two to three years, which would drive a rezoning to coincide as each school opens, board Vice President Craig Hawkesworth said.
The first was Elementary School No. 4, and the next will be Elementary School No. 5 scheduled for the 2027-28 school year followed by Elementary School No. 6 in 2031-32, according to documents.
The board concluded that the fifth elementary school would then provide relief to Argyle South and Elementary School No. 4 zones, which will be among the first to exceed capacity in the next few years.
“When you’re in a fast-growth district and you’re projecting to open and build schools over the next six years, zoning is just going to be part of our future,” Hawkesworth said.
But in its efforts to develop alongside its growth, the district should remain conservative to avoid having a surplus of schools as enrollment slows, which could lead to closures, Superintendent Courtney Carpenter said.
The impact
Along with providing enrollment relief, the district’s priorities during the rezoning process were to minimize the number of families impacted, while aligning with long-term boundary and facility plans, Carpenter said. It also strived to adjust attendance boundary areas anticipated to be impacted by current and future developments.
During the public forum at last month's meeting, an Argyle West parent implored the board the trustees to visit and speak with people of that community before making a zoning decision. She noted that rezoning may affect the daily culture in Argyle West, which is rich with bike riders and families walking their kids to school and playing in parks, compared to other zones like Hilltop, where car drop-offs and bus rides are more common.
While recognizing there is a lot of emotion involved for families affected by rezoning, the decisions have to be based on available data and balance enrollment numbers across each campus as much as possible, Carpenter said. The zones were also drawn as to prevent families from being forced to switch school zones twice once Elementary School No. 5 opens.
Due to the need to balance enrollment, the new zones would be strict and disallow students from attending a school outside their zone, she said.
Next steps
After the meeting, AISD communications sent out the zoning information to families for comment and compiled the findings for approval consideration at the regular meeting Dec. 18. Following the meeting, the district will focus on staffing needs for Elementary School No. 4.
“We are going to get a principal named, and that principal will start onboarding families, onboarding staff, all the things that need to happen so that it's a very smooth transition, and we want to provide as much consistency as possible for that,” Carpenter said.
