What you need to know
The vote follows a recommendation from a committee of district staff and parents, CISD Executive Communications Director Jeff Brady said. The committee was part of the Budget Reduction Advisory Committee, which began considering consolidation last September, Brady said. The district has lost 655 students since the 2019-20 school year, according to a previous reporting.
School districts receive funding from the state based on average daily attendance, according to the Texas Education Agency’s website. The district is roughly 2,000 students under capacity, per Brady’s Dec. 15 presentation.
By the numbers
Board President Cameron Bryan said the district plans to sell the building and the 30-acre property that houses the campus. Deputy Superintendent of Finance and Operations Chase Park expects the sale to yield the district between $20 million to $25 million. Bryan said that money will go into an account that will earn the district about $1.25 million in interest each year.
“The millions and millions of dollars that we will receive as a result of that sale will go into a high-yield account and earn interest,” Bryan said. “We're not just going to spend that tens of millions of dollars.”
During the Jan. 12 meeting, Brady showed that the district will save $1.3 million each year from operational cost savings and staff cuts, for a total of about $2.5 million in savings each year. The staff cuts will be from administrative positions and the teachers will move to the new campuses with the students, Park said.
The impact
Durham is one of two schools in the district that serve fifth- and sixth-grade students. After the school closures, all fifth-grade students would move into existing elementary schools and the district will expand two middle school campuses to serve sixth-grade students, according to the presentation.
There will be no change to the two high school buildings and elementary school attendance zones will not change, Superintendent Jeremy Glenn said.
Some background
There are currently 664 students enrolled at Durham, which has a capacity for 849. District officials expect enrollment to drop to 501 by the 2029-30 school year, based on a Zonda Demographer report.
Durham requires about $8 million in repairs over the next five years, while most schools in the district require about $1 million in that same time period, Director of Facility Services Lanny Mooney said.
District officials formed the BRAC Committee in 2024 to develop a five-year plan to improve the district’s financial stability, according to district documents.
Looking ahead
District officials will develop new transportation routes, feeder patterns and adjust the curriculum over the next year, Bryan said.
Durham will close ahead of the 2027-28 school year.
The committee will explore short-term bonds to execute campus repairs throughout the district, Bryan said.
