Irving ISD plans to close two elementary schools next year and adjust the district’s boundaries. The district says the effort will address falling student enrollment and prevent a potential budget shortfall.
After months of board discussions, trustees voted Monday to close Britain and Elliott elementary schools. With little more than 500 students enrolled, Elliott Elementary is at about 45% capacity, according to district data. Britain Elementary, with about 640 students, is at about 50% classroom capacity. Enrollment at both is projected to fall in the coming years.
“The two schools that were identified by the district leaders as having the lowest capacity enrollment are the ones being closed,” Trustee Lisa Lobb told attendees at Monday’s meeting, “and for no other reason.”
Lobb explained that as the district’s enrollment has dropped, so has its funding from the state, which is based on a per-student formula.
“Although this is not an easy decision, the reasoning behind it is simple,” she said. “With losing 4,000 students in our district over recent years, we are receiving millions of dollars less in money.”
Current students will be rezoned to other elementary schools in the district.
But parents with students in Britain and Elliott say the closures will have wide-reaching effects.
“Elliott has become a second home not just for students, but for everyone in the community,” said Patricia Medellin, who has three kids in the elementary school. “We want to see how Elliott Elementary evolves, changes and improves for as long as humanly possible.”
Former Irving City Council member Sharon Barbosa-Crain said the closures will mean the loss of a vital service for the neighborhoods they’re in, some of which are among Irving’s most vulnerable. Nearly 77% of Elliott Elementary students are considered at risk, and about 85% are economically disadvantaged, according to a report from the Texas Education Agency.
“Parents will have transportation issues, they’ll have child care issues … but the neighborhoods will have issues too,” Barbosa-Crain said. “When you remove something as vital as a school, you will create a hole in that neighborhood.”
She asked the board to defer a vote until it’s decided what will fill those gaps left behind, but Lobb said it’s not a decision that can wait.
“This hard but inevitable decision falls on us,” she said. “We are having to consolidate resources.”