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Catch up on Community Impact’s education coverage in Argyle ISD and Lewisville ISD with these four stories.
Argyle ISD opens discussion on new feeder system for schools
Argyle ISD’s board of trustees discussed a new potential feeder system to mitigate district growth at a regular meeting March 23.
In a nutshell
Argyle ISD officials had a long-range planning discussion about its growing student population in the future. The district is examining its current grade spans and feeder patterns, according to district documents.
“We’re looking to balance growth and sustainability,” AISD Superintendent Courtney Carpenter said. “That’s what’s really driven this entire study. One that meets student needs now and then not create as many challenges 15 [to] 20 years down the road.”
The new Legacy High School, expected to open in fall 2027, is projected to be over capacity by the 2030-31 school year, according to district data. Carpenter said the district is also seeing significant seat availability in the elementary schools starting in the 2027-28 school year.
“If you look at those charts, especially the elementary, it tends to look like it might be overbuilding and underutilizing 10 years from now,” Carpenter said.
The specifics
The board is considering a new feeder reconfiguration that would house fifth and sixth grade students together at intermediary schools. Students at the district would go through an elementary, intermediate, middle and then high school.
Michael Ball Elementary, a new school currently planned to open in fall 2027, would instead be an intermediate school, and the district’s Sixth Grade Center would be temporarily used as the district’s second intermediate school until a new facility is constructed, which is projected to open in 2029 per previous reporting.
Lewisville ISD officials expect to end the 2025-26 fiscal year with roughly $20.5 million in savings compared to the adopted budget, according to an early March report from LISD Budget Director Claudia Orta.
The overview
Expenditure projections show that the district spent roughly $553 million, about $20.5 million under the $573.5 million the district budgeted for expenditures for FY 2025-26, per Orta’s report.
Most of the savings came from payroll. Orta said the district budgeted for a 99% position fill-rate, but the fill-rate has hovered around 97%, resulting in payroll savings.
“The primary driver of these savings is our vacancy rate,” Orta said. “While we budgeted for a 99% fill-rate, we’re currently at approximately 97%. While the majority of the savings are on the payroll side, we’re also seeing some reduced spending on services and supplies.”
By the numbers
Updated revenue projections from Orta showed that local revenue, which includes property taxes, made up about $462 million, or 81% of the district’s revenue. District officials projected about $466 million in local revenue.
State funding contributed roughly $100.5 million, about 18%, and federal funding contributed just under $7 million, about 1% of the district’s FY 2025-26 revenue.
Looking ahead
A report from LISD Chief Financial Officer Scott Wrehe showed that district officials expect enrollment and average daily attendance to drop for the 2026-27 fiscal year. Projections show enrollment will drop from 46,402 down to 45,125, and attendance is projected to decline from 43,418 to 41,966. Texas school districts receive state funding based on average daily attendance, according to the Texas Education Agency’s website.
Lewisville ISD trustees approve $15.4M in campus and facility renovations
Lewisville ISD trustees approved $15.4 million in campus construction projects at a March 9 board meeting, following a March 2 report from Executive Construction Director Randy Fite.
By the numbers
The projects include:
Zooming in
The projects total nearly $15.38 million, which is about $1.1 million over budget, Fite said.
“We do have available funds in different sources, there are land sales, there are bond project savings, and there’s always our bond interest earnings account that can be utilized to cover the overage,” Fite said.
Here's everything you need to know about Argyle ISD's online learning program, SOAR
High schoolers at Argyle ISD will be able to participate in the district’s Student Option for Academic Readiness, or SOAR program, a fully online learning model with completely virtual and hybrid options starting in the 2026-27 school year.
The district hosted a webinar Feb. 24 to provide more details about the program, which was approved during a district board meeting in January.
What you need to know
Students participating in SOAR will be taught by instructors on the application Edgenuity, Assistant Superintendent Dawn Jordan said, and Argyle ISD staff will not be assisting with virtual instruction.
Edgnuity also has an on-demand tutoring service in which conversations between teachers and students are recorded, Jordan said.
Argyle ISD will, however, have a student success coach for online students to check in with for general help. Jordan said students will not be allowed to schedule virtual classes between two in-person classes.
“Virtual classes must be scheduled before or after [a student's] block of in-person classes because students cannot come and go during the day,” Jordan said. “This is mostly for safety reasons. We need to know when students are on campus.”
Here are other logistics families may want to know about the program:
