SUGAR LAND, Texas (KTRK) — Fort Bend ISD parents are bracing for school closures and rezoning after the district released a new timeline with its long-term boundary planning.
FORT BEND ISD RELEASES NEW TIMELINE FOR ITS BOUNDARY PLANNING
On Monday, Fort Bend ISD board members met. The majority of the meeting was focused on the districts long-term boundary plan.
Earlier this year, the district announced its looking to make changes mainly due to declining enrollment — a plan that the district says could close schools and rezone students.
Fort Bend ISD Deputy Superintendent Chief of Staff Beth Martinez gave trustees an update to the boundary timeline on Monday.
Martinez said they plan to present a proposal at the Dec. 15 meeting.
“We are working very hard to make sure that all students are going to be okay,” trustee Shirley Rose-Gilliam said.
Martinez said they’re going to recommend the board make a decision by March.
WHAT FACTORS ARE GOING INTO DECIDING WHICH SCHOOLS COULD BE IMPACTED
Martinez didn’t say which campuses could be impacted. However, she did provide information into factors that are going into the proposal.
She said they’re looking at enrollment, budget, community impact and programs. University of Houston Clinical Associate Professor in Education Duncan Klussmann was a superintendent in a different school district.
He said the district may also be looking at academic performance.
“Do we have campus that has failed two years, three years, do we still have the control of closing that campus or not before the state would do that,” Klussmann explained.
As far as enrollment, there are a handful of elementary schools that are at around 50% capacity or below that the facility was designed to handle. Glover Elementary has the widest gap with its capacity only 41% full.
FORT BEND ISD TRUSTEES CONCERNS VOUCHERS COULD MAKE ENROLLMENT WORSE
Next year, Texas rolls out its school voucher program, which gives families around $10,000 to attend private school. During Monday’s Fort Bend ISD trustee meeting, members said they’re concerned the program may only make their enrollment numbers worse.
“There’s uncertainty and anxiety and we are going to experience a loss because of vouchers,” trustee Afshi Charania said.
Klussmann said it’s a situation other districts are watching closely as well. “The voucher piece is a reason to be making some of these difficult decisions, or preparing for them, but we don’t know what that data is going to look like yet,” Klussmann.
Before the voucher program even begins, Klussmann said it’s not just Fort Bend ISD grappling with declining enrollment. He said other districts are looking at campuses because of it as well.
FORT BEND ISD ISN’T LOOKING TO CHANGES TO ITS MIDDLE SCHOOLS AND HIGH SCHOOLS YET
During Monday’s meeting, trustees learned the district plans to release a proposal only impacting elementary schools in mid-December.
“Us as parents are a little confused why we’re looking at elementary schools now,” parent Kendell Kelly said. “We’re not being told about feeder patterns. What that looks like and then the middle school and high school levels.”
Board members also expressed concerns about not doing all campuses at once.
“It would’ve been ideal to do all three of them together,” Charania said. “I recognize we may not have those resources in place today.”
District officials did not provide a timeline on when or if they plan to address middle schools and high schools.
On Tuesday, ABC13 reached out Fort Bend ISD to do an interview and talk about the proposal. The district sent us the following statement:
Fort Bend ISD is committed to ensuring every student learns in an environment that is safe, supportive, and designed for long-term success. As FBISD enrollment begins to stabilize across the district, we are conducting a long-range boundary planning process. This is a multi-year planning process designed to balance enrollment across our campuses over time.
We are committed to a transparent process that includes meaningful input from our families, staff, students, and community members. As part of this work, the District will share draft boundary scenarios with the public in January, providing ample opportunity for feedback before any recommendations are finalized and presented to the Board of Trustees for consideration in early spring.
FBISD looks forward to continued collaboration with our community as we work together to build a strong and sustainable future for Fort Bend ISD.
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