At a tense October board meeting, Frisco ISD trustees heard from dozens of students and parents all there with the same message: Keep Staley Middle School open.
“Keeping Staley open allows all children to stay close to home, remain engaged in their school community ... and continue benefiting from these opportunities,” said mom of three Erin Baxter.
Even Deputy Superintendent Todd Fouche spoke publicly of his own emotional ties to the school.
“My mom taught at Staley, my wife taught at Staley, my brother went to Staley,” Fouche said during the board meeting. “If you were here before the year 2000, Staley was part of your story. No one gets in this business to talk about closing schools.”
Among the many North Texas school districts closing campuses to save money amid falling enrollment, ongoing inflation, and reduced state funding, Frisco ISD stands out.
“We were the fastest growing school district in the country and the state for years and years and years, growing 3,000 students a year for 15 years," Fouche told KERA.
Twenty years ago, the district had 15,000 students. By 2008 it had double that.
Land to grow, to build businesses and homes helped drive the expansion. The arrival of new technology companies also helped, as did landmark sports franchises that relocated to Frisco, including the Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Stars and the PGA.
Even in 2020, when districts statewide LOST students from COVID fears, Frisco kept growing – just one of two in Texas that did.
But two and half years ago, Frisco ISD officials reported a 300-student decline.
“It was something for us to kind of pay attention to and watch,” Fouche said.
Today, enrollment is down about 3,000 students from the district’s peak of 67,000. The enrollment decline also exacerbated a multi-million dollar budget deficit. Fouche wonders if Frisco’s growth was too much of a good thing. He said homes aren’t turning over as quickly as they used to.
"My home four years ago yielded two students for Frisco ISD, and three years ago and two years ago my home yielded one student for Frisco ISD,” Fouche said. “Now my home yields zero students for Frisco ISD and I'm not moving. “
Other North Texas districts have also seen enrollment declines and already closed schools — Richardson, Plano, Fort Worth and McKinney among them, as well as Carrollton-Farmers Branch, Coppell and Lewisville. Grand Prairie’s considering it amid falling enrollment.
Tracking the changes is state demographer Lloyd Potter, who has sometimes taken calls from districts wondering where their students went. Some, he said, just moved out.
“When we look at the migrants there, the out-migrants, they tend to be moving to the suburban ring county,” said Potter. Those counties include Rockwall, Wise, Parker, Johnson and Ellis.
He said there’s also something else going on: Families are having fewer children nationally and globally.
“Texas is now experiencing that,” Potter said. “What we're seeing is declining birth rates in all of the counties. Even those that are growing fast are having declining birthrates.”
Potter said other cities with once-growing districts like Richardson or Plano have matured to where there’s no new population growth or additional housing for additional families. Fouche said Frisco’s working to get familiar with this new reality, as he expects more lost students and school closures over the next 5 to 10 years. He’s changing the way he thinks about the district.
“In this era when there are charter schools and vouchers coming up next year, it's become a competitive environment,” said Fouche.
The district is starting a virtual education program called Frisco Flex. And earlier this year it launched Access Frisco, hoping to attract non-district students to its schools.
“We do see other districts that are doing it and it felt like a real viable option for us to increase enrollment here,” Fouche said. “We think we’re a good option for families.”
Thirty students joined Frisco the first semester. The open enrollment program holds some promise, said Fouche, especially because, in Texas, state funding follows the student.
Bill Zeeble is KERA’s education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
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