This could be the last summer for four Plano schools on the list to be permanently closed next year.
The Plano ISD School Board Trustees are expected to vote on whether or not to close two elementary schools and two middle schools at a special meeting on Monday at 6 p.m. The schools— Davis Elementary, Forman Elementary, Armstrong Middle School and Carpenter Middle School — were recommended for closure by the Long-Range Facility Planning Advisory committee at a meeting in May.
The school board appointed a committee last year of more than 70 parents, staff, city employees and other community members to evaluate campuses for potential closure based on quality of facilities, building capacity and the district’s declining enrollment.
Depending on the board’s decision, the four campuses would close during the 2025-2026 school year. Families at the schools may have the option to transfer for the 2024-2025 school year if the board approves a resolution modifying the district’s transfer policy in response to the proposed closures and rezoning.
Faculty and staff at the schools wouldn’t lose their jobs. The committee said the district would prioritize transfer requests from the faculty and staff at these schools.
Davis Elementary
The committee presented its findings and reasons for proposed closures at a May 21 meeting. It listed poor facilities and extra room at surrounding elementary schools as reasons for closing Davis Elementary. The campus, which was built in 1972, has a 46 out of 100 facility assessment score and 38 out of 100 structure score according to a presentation from the committee. The district would save about $4.7 million by closing the campus and avoid spending $60 million to replace the facility.
The elementary schools in Plano ISD’s central cluster can currently host up to 10,370 students. With current enrollment numbers, the expected number of students for the 2025-2026 school year is 7,188. That puts the district’s central cluster at 69% capacity if Davis stayed open.
Marshall Jackson, one of the committee members, said at the meeting in May that the ideal capacity is in the 80-85% range.
“We're well below that, so we're operating inefficiently,” Jackson said.
Closing Davis Elementary would put the central cluster region at 73% capacity, which Jackson said is an improvement.
Davis Elementary hosts the Regional Day School Program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing for 14 school districts, including Plano ISD. If Davis closes, the program would be moved to nearby Harrington Elementary — and so would its students.
Shawnda Krajca’s daughter is a deaf student at Davis Elementary. Kracja said the hearing students at Davis are used to having classmates that are Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She said her daughter, who relies on American Sign Language to communicate, doesn’t feel comfortable around most hearing children — except for her friends from Davis.
“My daughter is just one of the girls,” Kracja said.” They don't see her as, ‘Oh, that's the deaf kid.’”
Sarah Wainscott, an associate professor at Texas Women’s University that teaches deaf education, said the inclusive culture at Davis Elementary is unique.
“That’s something that’s really hard to replicate,” Wainscott said. “Frankly, it just takes time. And that time has been invested in Davis.”
Some of the hearing students from Davis Elementary would be rezoned to Harrington. But others would be sent to Saigling Elementary.
Forman Elementary
Like Davis Elementary, Forman Elementary was selected for potential closure because of poor facilities — the campus has a 47 facility assessment score and a 33 structure score. The district would save around $5.7 million by closing Forman and avoid spending $60 million to replace the campus according to the committee’s presentation.
The students at Forman Elementary would be rezoned to five surrounding schools — Dooley Elementary, Schell Elementary, Stinson Elementary, Memorial Elementary and Meadows Elementary.
Tisha Amos, the president of the parent teacher association at Forman, said parents are heartbroken about the school potentially closing its doors — and so are her kids.
“They’re going to most likely be divided from a good majority of their friends,” Amos said.
Forman’s students won’t be the only kids moving schools if the campus is closed. John Tedford, who’s on the committee, said some students at other schools that aren’t on the list for potential closure would have move schools too.
“Forman is somewhere somewhat in the middle of the cluster,” Tedford said. “This results in several necessary adjustments to boundaries, what we call the ripple effects.”
He said some kids at Schell Elementary would have be rezoned to Miller Elementary, some students at Stinson would be moved to Schell, and children at Meadows Elementary may have to move to Memorial Elementary.
Harper Weaver, a data engineer and parent of a Forman Elementary student, analyzed the district’s data and shared his findings with KERA. He said the ripple effect Tedford referred to would impact about 20% of the students in the district’s eastern cluster. The new boundaries would lead to increased travel times to school and require more bus routes according to Weaver’s report.
Weaver said in his report that unlike the other three campuses, closing Forman goes against the committee's guiding principles that board set. He cites schools further east than Forman that have lower enrollment the district could close that would have less of an impact.
The majority of Forman Elementary’s student population — about 61% — is Hispanic according to the school’s 2022 Texas Education Agency Report Card. A large percentage of the student body are bilingual — about 56.7% according to TEA data. And 71.7% are economically disadvantaged.
Some of the schools the students could be rezoned to have significantly lower Hispanic and bilingual populations than Forman. The district said it would add dual language programs at these schools as needed, but Weaver said that’s not enough.
“Some of these students will be removed from places where they have a community to places where a community just doesn't exist, or at least or is included in the same way,” he said.
Weaver also shared a copy of his report with KERA in Spanish.
Financial Strains
Plano ISD has had a budget deficit for years. The deficit for the district’s proposed budget for the 2024-2025 school year is $37 million — up from $24 million the previous year.
Many schools in Texas are primarily funded by local property taxes, plus money from the state and some federal dollars. But wealthy school districts like Plano ISD don’t get to keep all of their property tax revenue. The state sets a basic amount of funding school districts get per student — it comes out to no more than $6,160.
School districts like Plano ISD that collect more than that in property tax revenue have to send the extra money to the state. The Texas Education Agency redistributes that extra money to poorer school districts. That system is known as recapture.
KERA interviewed Johnny Hill, the district’s deputy superintendent for business and employee services, during the 2023 state legislative session when Rep. Mihaela Plesa, whose district includes parts of Plano ISD, proposed amending the recapture system. Hill said the district built up a strong savings account thanks to years of prudent financial management, but that money will run out.
“If nothing changes, and we continue to run on a deficit, we’re actually eating into our monies that we need to support our own operations in about three years,” Hill said.
Plesa’s bills didn’t move forward. And a bill that would’ve increased the basic allotment and teacher salaries died after Texas House members passed an amendment removing a school voucher program from the bill. Gov. Greg Abbott said he would veto any legislation that doesn’t include what he refers to as school choice.
Got a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.
Caroline Love is a Report For Americacorps member for KERA News.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gifttoday. Thank you.
