Access Frisco will allow kindergarten through seventh grade students from surrounding areas to attend Frisco ISD schools starting in the 2025-26 school year. The district’s board of trustees discussed the program during a Nov. 18 meeting.
Opening campuses up for outside enrollment will help fill classrooms with low enrollment. The district has about 900 open seats available across all the campuses in the kindergarten through seventh grade window, said Albert Leal, FISD’s managing director of student services.
“We worked very hard to optimize our resources and enhance our overall community impact and help create a financially sustainable future for Frisco ISD through this project,” he said.
The cause
The Access Frisco program has been under consideration for some time, Leal said.
In May, Frisco ISD officials adopted a budget with a shortfall potential of $30.8 million for the 2024-25 school year.
Several revenue-generating options were considered for FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26, including a voter-approved tax rate election that would have generated about $12 million. Voters denied the district’s proposed VATRE with 57.45% of ballots against the proposition in the Nov. 5 general election.
Opening the district’s enrollment was one option presented to the school board in April.
FISD’s enrollment used to be fast-growing but growth has plateaued or declined in many areas of the district. The state of Texas has also not increased school funding since 2019 despite inflation, Leal said.
The program has a projected revenue of about $750,000 for every 100 students. The district’s enrollment goal for the program is 900, Chief Operations Officer Scott Warstler said. This could result in about $6.75 million in revenue for the 2025-26 school year.
“We are hopeful this will provide a sustainable revenue source to help support Frisco ISD salaries and expenses,” Leal said.
Opening enrollment is a growing trend with 12 neighboring districts offering similar programs, including:
- Plano ISD
- Dallas ISD
- Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD
- Coppell ISD
- Lewisville ISD
- Lovejoy ISD
Open campuses were selected based on their capacity.
The new students will fill spaces in schools that are under capacity. The program is designed to use the staffing that is in place and not require additional staff, said Esther Kolni, FISD’s general counsel.
Students in the program will be required to reapply every year. Kolni explained this allows the district to determine if they are still eligible for the program and meet the district’s academic, behavioral and attendance standards. Students can be removed from the program if they do not meet the eligibility requirements.
The district will consider expanding the grade levels for the program in future years, Leal said.
Campuses included in the program are split into three zones—east, central and west.
East zone schools include:
- Elliott Elementary
- Sonntag Elementary
- Ogle Elementary
- Wortham Intermediate
- Scoggins Middle
- Vandeventer Middle
- Bright Academy
- Rogers Elementary
- Tadlock Elementary
- Staley Middle
- Trent Middle
- Minett Elementary
- Pink Elementary
- Purefoy Elementary
- Griffin Middle
- Wilkinson Middle
The program will expand educational opportunities for children in the area as many families cannot afford to move into Frisco due to the higher cost of living, Leal said.
Older neighborhoods in the district are not bringing new students into the district and this allows the district to fill open spaces with students from surrounding areas.
“We want to share the excellence that is Frisco ISD with our neighbors,” Leal said.
Looking ahead
Applications received by the district’s priority deadline will be entered into a lottery pool. Priority applications will be accepted from Dec. 16-Jan. 10. Regular applications are open from Jan. 14-24.
Accepted students will be responsible for finding transportation to and from the campus.
