The plan will be implemented for interdistrict transfers at four elementary schools, two middle schools and the high school in 2026-27. (Chloe Young/Community Impact)
Lake Travis ISD will implement a selective enrollment plan for interdistrict transfers, or students who live in areas zoned outside of the district, in 2026-27 as part of efforts to support in-district students.
The board of trustees approved the plan for Lake Pointe, Lake Travis, Lakeway and West Cypress Hills elementary schools; Bee Cave and Hudson Bend middle schools; and Lake Travis High School during its Jan. 22 meeting.
How it works
District documents state that enrollment trends, student transfers and school choice are continuing to influence district planning, funding and staffing.
Per the plan:
Applications will be received on a rolling basis and considered based on available space on the requested campus, student grade level and special programming needs, such as special education or bilingual classes.
Students must be in good academic standing with an 80 average, pass the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness tests or be on grade level if not in a STAAR-tested grade, have fewer than seven absences, and have fewer than two discipline referrals with no out-of-class placements.
University Interscholastic League, or UIL, rules will be applied.
Transportation will not be provided.
Yearly applications will be required.
Based off community feedback, interdistrict transfers at Bee Cave Middle School and Lake Travis High School will be "extremely limited" compared to the five other campuses in the plan, said Bethany Medford, assistant superintendent of school leadership.
The plan takes into consideration new and incoming developments in and around LTISD's zone.
Within LTISD's zone, developments including the Villas of Lakeway and The Pearl are being built out, Medford said.
Outside LTISD, Gregg Ranch and Thunder Ranch in the Marble Falls feeder zone are built out while Heritage and Double L Ranch in the Dripping Springs feeder zone have homes or are being built out.
Multiple developments inside and outside the LTISD zone are being built out. (Courtesy Lake Travis ISD)
Another point of view
Trustee Jonathan Bove considered whether the district should amend its intradistrict policy, which currently allows LTISD students to attend a school other than their home campus, in order to create space for potential interdistrict students to transfer in.
"I'm not suggesting we open the floodgates, but in special circumstances where it creates space for an out-of-district student to stay in-district and the in-district student gets what they want anyway, that feels like something we might want to explore to kind of load balance the schools," Bove said.
However, Superintendent Curtis Null said one concern with amending the intradistrict policy is that the district cannot deny a student the ability to attend the school they are zoned for.
"What many other districts learned through implementation through this process ... is people made those moves and then they filled in their seats at their school, and then for whatever reason—maybe because transportation became hard, or 'I miss my friends'—they wanted to go back to their home school, and we can't deny that," Null said. "[That would] then require us to hire more staff, which is counterintuitive of the whole point of this process."
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