Trustees approved the rezoning plan along with some grandfathering options at the Feb. 17 board meeting, and the changes will go into effect for the 2025-26 school year.
Some context
When the district drew new elementary zones ahead of Jane Ruestmann Elementary's opening, officials expected the campus to serve around 620 students for the 2024-25 school year out of its 850-student capacity, according to Zonda Education data. However, that number came in closer to 820 students and will swell to over 900 students next year without a boundary adjustment.
The details
In the plan, students east of I-35W between Robson Ranch Road and Old Justin Road will be rezoned from Jane Ruestmann Elementary to Hilltop Elementary. This area was originally zoned to Hilltop and was allowed to grandfather to that campus when Jane Ruestmann opened.
Neighborhoods south of Old Justin Road, along with the westernmost portion of the Jane Ruestmann attendance zone near Schober Road, will now attend Argyle West Elementary. The western portion rezone will only affect two families, but officials elected to rezone the area because one transportation route serves this section and allows for the school bus to transport solely to Argyle West rather than split drop offs between both schools, according to district documents.
Additionally, several homes along 16th Street in the Jane Ruestmann attendance zone were allowed to be grandfathered to Argyle West when the original boundaries were drawn before the school opened. The new plan extended this eligibility to more homes along 16th Street with the following street numbers:
- 1104
- 1108
- 1112
- 1124
- 1140
- 1204
- 1212
- 1224
- 1304
- 1308
- 1312
Going forward
The district will allow incoming fifth graders and their siblings who were rezoned from Jane Ruestmann Elementary to apply for a transfer to stay at that campus. District officials will email families informing them of this process and provide a decision deadline by Feb. 20 before finalizing staffing allocations for all campuses this spring, AISD Superintendent Courtney Carpenter said.
With the boundary adjustments, Jane Ruestmann’s enrollment will shrink to just under 700 students. However, demographer projections indicate that all elementary campuses will eclipse their capacity in the 2026-27 school year until a fifth elementary school opens in 2027-28 to provide relief, according to district documents.
