As of March 17, new students in kindergarten through fifth grade who live within the boundaries of Neill Elementary School will be rezoned to Pecan Grove Elementary School, Beth Martinez, deputy superintendent chief of staff, said at the March 17 agenda review board meeting.
Currently enrolled students won't be affected unless they move to a different attendance zone, according to the district website.
“[The district is] evaluating the recommendations [and] the projections for each of our planning units and really making sure that we're bringing forward the best decision so that we can manage enrollment through next year as we plan for mitigating that over the next several years,” Martinez said.
The specifics
Martinez said all students within Neill Elementary’s boundary would be zoned to Pecan Grove Elementary, regardless of their closer proximity to other neighboring schools in the Harvest Green area.
Additionally, the district will provide transportation routes to Pecan Grove Elementary, Martinez said. The transportation department will communicate details with parents regarding routes, pick-up and drop-off times, according to the website.
While district officials didn’t provide estimates on how many students are expected to enroll in Pecan Grove Elementary instead of Neill Elementary this school year, Martinez said two new students were expected to enroll at Pecan Grove Elementary from Neill Elementary on March 18.
No change will be made for prekindergarten students, as Pecan Grove Elementary has already served as the feeder campus for Neill’s kindergarteners, Martinez said.
How we got here
In October, the board of trustees voted to eliminate Elementary School No. 55 in the Harvest Green community from the 2023 bond plans, freeing up $47.57 million for other bond projects.
The school was meant to accommodate Neill and Patterson elementary schools, where overcrowding is expected to worsen over the next decade, Community Impact reported.
Neill Elementary is at 129.1% capacity and Patterson Elementary is at 82.8%, according to a February demographic report from Population and Survey Analysts. By the 2034-35 school year, Neill and Patterson elementaries are expected to grow to 151.1% and 126.1% capacity, respectively.
Although the board has discretion to revive once-eliminated projects using money from the $68 million in contingency funds, Chief Financial Officer Bryan Guinn said in February it would be “premature,” given 16% of projects still need final cost estimates.
Zooming out
Though enrollment is expected to stabilize throughout FBISD as the district reaches build-out, the northside of the district has a number of single- and multifamily housing developments that are coming over the next decade, according to PASA demographic data.
Builders for the Harvest Green community, which has 2,324 occupied single-family homes, are laying infrastructure on 190 acres across Harlem Road. Builders are projected to construct 952 additional homes in the next 10 years, according to PASA reports.
Additionally, the Silos at Harvest Green, an apartment complex located along the Grand Parkway is leasing 378 units, is one of several planned multifamily rental properties under development in the area, according to PASA. This follows a trend of demographers expecting multifamily rental complexes to account for one-third of housing within FBISD boundaries between 2023-33.
Next steps
At the March 24 FBISD board meeting, the district’s School Boundary Advisory Committee will provide a final boundary recommendation, which may impact current attendance boundaries, according to the district website.
The recommendation will include the Neill Elementary cap and overflow plan for the 2025-26 school year and the boundary recommendation for Ferndell Henry Elementary School, which is set to open in August.
