The big picture
The district’s current enrollment as of Sept. 5 sat at 43,905, PISD Deputy Superintendent Johnny Hill said.
The number is down from 46,551 in the 2024-25 school year, and lower than the district’s projected enrollment of 45,674.
PISD’s enrollment has declined every school year since peaking at 55,659 in 2011-12, and enrollment is projected to continue decreasing into the future.
The impact
Hill said that since PISD builds its budget around estimated enrollment, the district budgeted for about 1,700 more students than are currently enrolled.
“Whenever the district is going down in enrollment, our budget is always chasing that,” Hill said. “You’ve got to hire based on what you estimate is going to be there, and then as you go down, you’ve got to track it down.”
He added that the district currently has “about 90” open positions that have not been filled, and staff is waiting until after the final enrollment count Oct. 31 to update the budget for needed staffing.
Diving in deeper
PISD’s enrollment declined year over year in every grade. Three grade levels saw enrollment declines by more than 300 students from Oct. 24, 2024, to now—ninth, sixth and third grade enrollment decreased by 360, 340 and 335, respectively.
Pre-K, fifth grade and eighth grade saw the least drastic declines, dropping 33, 65 and 76 from last year’s totals, respectively.
The district’s west cluster of campuses saw enrollment decrease by 628 students year over year, while enrollment in the east and central clusters decreased by 343 and 272, respectively.
Plano ISD is currently operating at 70% capacity. Hill said that the district would consider 80%-85% to be “perfect efficiency.”
