While seeing less enrollment than school leaders desired, Frisco ISD’s Access Frisco—a program allowing out-of-district transfer students—is expected to bring in nearly $1.5 million in revenue during the 2025-26 school year.

Access Frisco allows kindergarten through seventh grade students from surrounding areas to attend FISD schools beginning this school year.

FISD will generate about $1.5 million from the 183 Access Frisco students enrolled this year, said Kimberly Smith, FISD’s chief finance and strategy officer, in an email. The district will also keep an additional $950,000 of revenue for the students it kept with its new transfer options, she said. In total, the district's open enrollment and new transfer options generated about $2.45 million in revenue for the district's operating budget.

The overview

The district currently has 304 total out-of-district students in the 2025-26 school year. This includes the 183 Access Frisco students, four grandparent transfer students and 115 legacy transfer students, said Albert Leal, FISD’s managing director of student services. The district's out-of-district transfer options are:

• Grandparent transfers which are available for students in grade K-9 if they have a grandparent living within district boundaries.
• Legacy transfer which is available to students if they move outside of the district and the student has been attending FISD for a minimum of one school year.
• Virtual learning is for students seeking full-time online school or a flexible hybrid option opportunities. The program is still under review by district staff and may launch in the 2026-27 school year.

"Since enrollment is our primary source of revenue, serving new students will help to maintain the quality programming and instruction provided by FISD and offset any downturns in enrollment numbers,” Leal said.

Diving in deeper

The district had about 900 open seats available across all campuses from kindergarten through seventh grade before the start of the school year.

The program had over 600 applicants in early 2025. While district officials hoped for more initial enrollment, Leal explained the first rollout has helped officials learn how to make the process easier for families and improve the overall application process for the next school year.

Fuller classrooms help students get the full benefit of a vibrant school community, said Sara Bagby, principal of Sonntag Elementary School, which is one of the 16 Access Frisco campuses.

“Students feel supported, inspired and excited to learn when they are part of a dynamic environment where every child is valued and encouraged to grow,” Bagby said.

What to expect

District officials are reviewing the program’s scope and evaluating what campuses or grade levels can be served through the Access Frisco program, Leal said. The application window for Access Frisco is expected to open in the late fall or early spring semester for the 2026-27 school year.

“We are actively exploring new ways to increase enrollment,” Leal said.