The Denton ISD board of trustees heard reports on how to increase student retention and possible legislative priorities for the next session during its Aug. 25 meeting.
What’s happening?
The school district is looking into ways to increase student retention and identify why students are leaving after new numbers showed a decline in enrollment, Assistant Superintendent Lacey Rainey said during the meeting.
Official numbers from the Texas Education Agency's website shows that 33,101 students were enrolled for the 2025-26 school year. This is a slight decrease from the 33,306 students enrolled in DISD schools for the 2024-25 school year and goes against growth projections originally stated by the district.
Denton ISD already tracks when students leave and where they go but the district is now stepping up efforts to determine what is causing students not to reenroll.
“To take that one step further, we’re working with teaching and learning to really target some campuses that had more students leave than we thought typical,” Rainey said. “We’re going to be calling those families to gather more information, not just where they went but why they left Denton ISD.”
Additionally, Rainey said the district is determining the best ways to increase retention and the possibility of having principals conduct stay interviews with families to determine why they stay enrolled at their current campuses.
Also on the agenda
The board also heard a report from General Counsel Deron Robinson about what its legislative priorities are and how to best advocate for the district as it prepares for the start of the next Texas legislative session Jan. 12.
The top priority listed was stopping wasteful state mandates and bureaucracy and to advocate for state funding to accompany new state mandates, Robinson said. Security and special education were brought up as examples of required programs that are needed but underfunded by the state.
Robinson also talked about the need to decrease less beneficial state-mandated programs that require district funding.
“They need to put their money where their mouth is,” Robinson said. “They need to actually either put money in or quit making us do more stuff.”
District officials also discussed plans to advocate for recurring pay raises for teachers and administrators.
While the goals are still a work in progress, they will likely be confirmed at the board's next meeting, Robinson said.
Also of note
The district approved a guaranteed maximum price of nearly $22 million for the construction of a warehouse for maintenance and technology.
The project is funded by Denton ISD’s 2023 bond program and will be used for equipment storage, inventory, distribution and will centralize technology operations with the goal to offer faster and more secure support to campuses.
The board also approved the donation of almost half an acre of unused land near Denia Park to the city of Denton for public use. The land will be turned into a public soccer field, according to previous reporting.
After coming out of closed session, the board approved a $4 million purchase of property located at 6941 Burger Road in Aubrey. Officials did not say at the meeting how the property would be utilized.
