Crowley ISD set an enrollment record but the district’s demographer Brent Alexander said the story is more complicated than the headline number.
The district counted 17,098 students in October, the most in its history. Yet that record was 54 more students than last year’s enrollment.
That slowdown is happening as builders broke ground on more than 1,700 new homes in the district last year and a record 2,075 families moved in — a figure that ranks Crowley fifth among all Dallas-Fort Worth school districts for new home occupancies in 2025 and first on the southern side of the metroplex.
The disconnect, Alexander told Crowley ISD trustees at a March 12 board meeting, comes down to a phenomenon playing out across Tarrant County: aging in place.
Neighborhoods that were among the district’s fastest growing 20 years ago — Summer Creek, Pointer Crossing and Fox Run — are now losing students as longtime homeowners stay put and families with young children move elsewhere.
High mortgage rates have locked many residents into homes they refinanced at low interest rates, making the math on moving difficult. Meanwhile, the new families buying in Crowley’s booming subdivisions don’t fully replace what older neighborhoods are losing.
“Where the new construction is occurring, you all are growing,” Alexander said. “But this is moderating the overall growth in the district.”
Trustee Kelicia Stevenson asked about whether Texas’ new school voucher program — which has drawn over 160,000 applicants statewide — would pull students away from the district.
“I’m wondering if that’s going to affect our numbers for our students in elementary grades,” Stevenson said.
Alexander said the district’s biggest concern is the $2,000 homeschool voucher, but that early signs suggest most applicants were already enrolled in homeschool programs.
“We hope that the state will provide more data,” Alexander said, “but I’m not sure when that will be.”
Here’s what the data shows about how the district got here:
Enrollment growth has slowed to its lowest point in a decade
The district added 54 students in the 2024-25 school year, its smallest single-year gain since enrollment briefly dipped during the pandemic.
In 2021-22, Crowley ISD added 547 students as families moved into new subdivisions. Four years later that same pipeline of new homes is still producing move-ins but net enrollment growth has nearly stalled.
20,000 students within the decade, if growth picks back up
Crowley ISD enrollment climbed from about 15,000 students in 2010 to a record 17,098 in the fall, a gain of more than 2,000 students over 15 years.
Under a moderate growth forecast, the district could add another 3,000 students by 2035. If that happens, enrollment would push past 20,000.
Under a low growth forecast, the district would still add nearly 1,000 students over the next five years and assumes current trends would continue.
The difference between the low and moderate paths comes down to whether neighborhood turnover picks back up, mortgage rates drop and how many families in new subdivisions ultimately choose Crowley ISD over other school options.
“If what we’ve seen the last two to three years continues, then the low scenario is the path," Alexander told trustees.
However, if growth improves, the district could see more moderate growth, he added.
As builders slow, a record number of families move in
In 2025, builders finished and handed over keys to a record 2,075 homes inside Crowley ISD boundaries. At the same time, the number of new homes starting construction dropped to 1,726.
The crossover where closings surpass new home construction tells an important part of the growth story, Alexander said. Homes that broke ground in 2022 and 2023 are now being occupied all at once.
Nicole Williams Quezada is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at nicole.williams@fortworthreport.org
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