Although the PISD board of trustees voted in favor of the petition at a Dec. 15 meeting, the DISD board of trustees voted against the petition Dec. 9. The Texas Education Agency will make a final decision on the issue.
The discussion comes after a petition was made by Doug Charles and Jeff Sterling to annex the homes into PISD. Residents of over 300 homes in Prosper’s Windsong Ranch neighborhood live within the city of Prosper and attend PISD schools, yet they pay taxes to DISD, according to a presentation by PISD Deputy Superintendent Jeff Crownover.
The context
About 299 students live within the boundaries of DISD, but they attend PISD schools through an agreement between the Windsong Ranch development and the Prosper Education Foundation, or PEF, Crownover said.
In exchange for school services, including transportation, Windsong Ranch pays PEF a certain percentage of the sale price of each home.
This agreement was formalized in 2020 but has unofficially been in effect since 2014. The PEF began receiving biannual payments in 2015, Crownover said.
Students could be transferred to DISD at any time if the agreement falls through, Charles said.
“We have no permanent guarantee that our children will always be allowed to attend PISD,” said Angela Taylor, a local real estate agent and Windsong Ranch resident.
The annexation would make families’ attendance at PISD schools permanent.
The impact
If the annexation goes through, residents would pay taxes to PISD instead of DISD. PISD would gain additional tax revenue from the properties absorbed, but some of that revenue would be paid to the state instead of benefiting PISD directly.
In exchange for the land, PISD would be required to take on a portion of DISD’s debt.
While the exact amount would be determined by the Denton County and Collin County commissioners courts, the district estimates that the annexation would result in an additional debt burden of $31.7 million, Crownover said.
Crownover estimated that even with the additional revenue from the annexed homes, it would take the district roughly 12 years to pay off the debt.
What else?
The petitioners and district staff agreed that the change would have no discernible educational or social impact on the students, who would continue attending the same schools.
The greatest social impact would be on adults, who currently vote in DISD elections and do not have voting rights in the district where their children attend school.
“I didn’t even realize [we were in DISD] until I went to vote for the first time and I got a different ballot than I was expecting,” said Susan Levy, a homeowner in the affected area.
If the property is absorbed into PISD, residents would be eligible to vote in PISD elections and run for seats on the PISD board of trustees.
What they’re saying
Residents of the affected area who spoke at the public meeting said the ability to attend PISD was a key factor in their decision to purchase homes in Windsong Ranch.
“I’ve lived in many states throughout the country, and we moved to Prosper specifically for the school district,” said Ruben Pinto, a father of two students in the affected area who attend Windsong Ranch Elementary in PISD.
Several speakers also said that they were misled by Windsong Ranch marketing materials, which promoted PISD schools.
The development’s website states that “Windsong Ranch students attend the outstanding schools of PISD,” which is true under the current attendance agreement but does not reflect certain homes’ districting within DISD.
What’s next?
Now that the districts involved have passed conflicting resolutions, the case will be decided by the TEA.
