The school year’s almost over on a nearly perfect, breezy day in May as the temperature nears 80.
Travis Fitzgerald picks up his 6-year-old kindergartner, Graham, for the five-minute walk home from Greenwood Hills Elementary.
“How many days left, buddy?” he asks Graham.
“Eleven,” Graham responds.
“Eleven,” his dad repeats. “He knows more than I do, of course.”
The clock’s not just ticking on Richardson ISD’s school year, but on four Richardson elementary schools themselves: Spring Valley, Thurgood Marshall, Springridge, and this campus, Greenwood Hills, will be consolidated into other schools.
“I think everybody knows it’s going to close,” Fitzgerald said. “But we really haven’t thought about it. And we’re just kind of trying to celebrate all the kids who’ve gone through it.
"I think everybody’s kind of shelved their emotions, at least for now."
It was only a few months earlier that Richardson Superintendent Tabitha Branum announced plans to possibly close schools.
She told parents at a town hallmeeting at Pearce High School in February the district faced a $28 million deficit, total enrollment was down 2,500 students, and those four schools were the emptiest, so the kids would be reassigned.
“Looking at where our budget is and knowing we were going to have to make some difficult decisions, as a superintendent, I promise you never in that trajectory is this a decision or recommendation you would hope to make," she said.
Richardson ISD’s not alone. Many districts in North Texas, from Irving and Plano to Fort Worth and Arlington, face shortfalls of $30 million or more, leaving school closures and layoffs as solutions. Two Irving elementary schools will close next year; Fort Worth ISD is also looking at closures amid falling enrollment.
In fact, school statewide are suffering financially. A new survey from The Texas Association of School Business Officials found more than half the more than 300 districts it surveyed expect a deficit by the end of this year. Last year, less than a third reported a deficit.
Clay Robison with the Texas State Teachers Association blames the governor.
“The main reason they're struggling financially is because Greg Abbott refused to sign a public school funding bill last year without vouchers, even with a $33 billion budget surplus," Robison said.
Abbott tried and failed in the legislative session and four special sessions last year to get a voucher like plan approved.
Last week, when some Democratic lawmakers demanded Abbott call another special session to fund public education, he blamed school district deficits on the end of federal COVID dollars and falling enrollments. He added that if lawmakers had approved vouchers last year, districts would now have their money.
Dallas Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde suspects that after recent elections, vouchers may finally pass next year. But, like others, she needs funding now: Her district faces a deficit approaching $200 million.
“We did have to right-size based on loss of student enrollment. That's a reality," she said. "But we haven't had to do the severe deep, deep cuts that many of our neighboring school districts have had to do.”
Back in Richardson, dad Travis Fitzgerald said his son's current five-minute school walk will turn into a 15- or 20-minute trek to the new school next year because it’s more than a mile away. There won’t be a bus, either.
“We are actually too close to all of the schools," Fitzgerald said. “We are too close to the junior high, the elementary and the high school.”
Although six-year-old Graham said he’ll miss Greenwood Hills, he’s also visited what will be his new school, Northrich Elementary, and said it’s "fun." But walking there, he said, will be hard — it’s more than a mile from home.
“You could get hit by a car,” he said.
That’s why driving the kids to and from school is an option for Fitzgerald, even if he’d prefer otherwise.
The same way school closures, layoffs and budget cuts are options for struggling school districts — though they wish they didn’t have to exercise them.
Bill Zeeble is KERA’s education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
