NPR for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Lewisville ISD may close, consolidate 20 campuses due to budget woes

several dozen people sitting at long, rectangular tables in large room
screenshot
/
Lewisville ISD
Lewisville ISD Superintendent Lori Rapp leads an LISD committee meeting in which a group of parents, community members and staff discuss findings to help make the district more efficient.

Lewisville ISD is considering closing or consolidating as many as 20 campuses amid a budget shortfall and declining enrollment.

The district faces a $4.5 million deficit and nearly 10,000 fewer students in the next decade, said Superintendent Lori Rapp and a Lewisville ISD committee looking into efforts to become more efficient. Closing or consolidating 20 campuses will be one possible result, said Rapp, to “right size” the district.

In a school committee meeting this week, Rapp told stakeholders that the district’s enrollment decline would result in millions less from the state.

“We peaked in enrollment in around 2015-16-17 at 53,000 and we’re projected over the next 10 years to stabilize at about 45,000,” Rapp said.

She said LISD is already operating with a deficit, with “no indication at this time that the Legislature is going to address the basic allotment when they reconvene in January.” Lawmakers failed to pass a school funding measure last session, leaving the state’s basic allotment the same as it’s been for years.

The committee of staff, parents, and community members said the 20 schools chosen for possible closure or consolidation were determined based on several factors, including a school’s student capacity compared to the number of students currently enrolled, costs of insuring a building and its operating costs.

The assessment identified 10 schools for closure or boundary realignment: B.B. Owen, Creekside, Ethridge, Garden Ridge, Heritage, Highland Village and Polser elementary schools, and DeLay, Downing and Lakeview middle schools. Students might then be re-assigned to Bluebonnet, Camey, Degan, Hebron Valley, Memorial, Morningside Old Settlers, or Rockbrook elementary schools.

Middle school students might then attend Creek Valley or Shadow Ridge.

Officials said no decision, if any, would be made until December of this year.

Lewisville joins other north Texas districts that have already announced school closures or possible closures in the coming year, in the face of budget deficits and enrollment losses. They include Richardson, Plano, Irving and Fort Worth.

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.

Bill Zeeble has been a full-time reporter at KERA since 1992, covering everything from medicine to the Mavericks and education to environmental issues.