While the district’s School Boundary Advisory Council has only recommended rezoning the neighboring Heritage Rose Elementary School, many trustees said at the Feb. 18 boundary planning meeting a solution to overcrowding may not exist without a plan to rezone other schools.
FBISD has under 20,000 unoccupied seats distributed across all grade levels in the district, and there would have to be “radical rezoning” moving forward to address growth in southern and northeastern parts of the district, Chief Financial Officer Bryan Guinn said.
“If we're going to address some of these issues, it would look very different tomorrow than what we have today,” he said. “We have a tremendous amount of capacity, ... it's not all in the right place. That's the bottom-line issue.”
In a nutshell
Ferndell Henry, a 2023 bond project coming to Rosharon, could alleviate overcrowding issues of neighboring schools—in particular Heritage Rose, which is expected to be at over triple its capacity by the 2034-35 school year, said Bob Templeton, president of demographic firm Zonda.
Leonetti and Sienna Crossing elementary schools will also hover over 100% capacity, but Scanlan Oaks Elementary School has a declining capacity that reaches 54% by 2034-35, Templeton said.
The options
Templeton presented two boundary recommendations for Ferndell Henry to the board that would only disrupt Heritage Rose’s attendance zone.
The recommendations are meant to be minimal due to unforeseen changes in enrollment to charter and private schools; however, they’re also a starting point and will be elaborated on following public comment, he said.
“Because of the complexity of the changing environment with the vouchers and funding and [incoming charter school Harmony Science Academy], I opted to stick to a plan that was the least amount of movement to solve my challenge,” he said.
Both recommendations had a boundary line between Ferndell Henry and Heritage Rose from Sienna Parkway to Hwy. 288, according to the presentation. Prekindergarten and bilingual programs would stay at Heritage Rose.
According to the presentation, the options differ in the following ways:
- Option 1: Ferndell Henry would be over capacity by 2026-27, with Heritage Rose following in 2027-28.
- Option 2: Two sections of the Caldwell Ranch neighborhood would continue attending Heritage Rose. Heritage Rose would be over capacity a year earlier in 2026-27, but Ferndell Henry wouldn’t reach capacity until 2028-29.
Zooming out
Board President Kristin Tassin said uncertainty surrounding statewide voucher legislation may impact FBISD’s enrollment, but the district’s School Boundary Advisory Council should have a plan to accommodate enrollment for the next five years by looking at other campuses in the Sienna community.
“I think the community understands that [enrollment] may change, but I think that we have to look at this a little bit longer term and get some of those utilization numbers up,” she said.
Trustee Angie Hanan said the recommendations may conflict with the SBAC’s guidelines that avoid moving students to a new school more than once at any campus level due to new boundaries, which is likely to happen given Heritage Rose and Ferndell both reach capacity within three years.
Hanan also warned against not having pre-K and bilingual programs at Ferndell Henry because it may cause issues for families who have students enrolled in both programs.
“On the east side of the district, in this location, I think the bilingual program is very valuable. I know [Ferndell Henry and Heritage Rose] are very close, but you’re splitting up kids,” she said.
Next steps
The SBAC will host a public hearing Feb. 26 at Crawford High School to hear feedback on the recommended plans. Community members who cannot attend in person can also send feedback through a survey link posted on the district website from Feb. 26-March 5, Templeton said.
The SBAC will then review the feedback and present a final recommendation to the board March 27. Trustees will take a vote April 7, Templeton said.
Additionally, in March trustees will discuss the over-utilization at Neill Elementary School in Richmond, Tassin said.
