Lewisville ISD Hits Pause on Boundary Discussions
When Lewisville ISD was one of the fastest-growing school districts in Texas in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, boundary adjustments were a yearly occurrence, corresponding with the opening of new schools every year.
Now the growth has slowed, but the district still examines its boundary lines every year, looking to ensure school enrollments are balanced, and to make the best use of district resources. Still, when it became clear to LISD Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kevin Rogers the recently discussed boundary changes under consideration for 2020-21 could wait another year, he made the decision to table the topic for now.
“Changing attendance zones is something no one likes to do, but it is something we are always looking at,” Rogers said. “We carefully study the demographic information for each campus, look at trends in housing, and try to make both short-term and long-term decisions that will best serve our students and our district.”
Years ago, parents had little choice when their area was designated for rezoning, but Rogers believes LISD offers families more choices now because the district is open enrollment and has a generous “grandfather” clause, which allows many existing students to stay in their current school if its boundary changed.
“When we adjust boundaries, many times students and their parents want to stay at the school they were attending, and even continue through that feeder pattern. With our open-transfer policy, which allows students to attend just about any campus in the district, families have more choices on where to go to school.”
Although no changes will take place in the 2020-21 school year, and boundary adjustments aren’t as commonplace as they used to be, Rogers knows some adjustments will be necessary to keep enrollment balanced across the district, and to take into consideration the opening of Josey Lane Elementary in the fall of 2021.
“We know we will have to finalize the boundaries for Josey Lane and we expect there to be some adjustments in other parts of the district to provide relief specifically to the Lewisville High School feeders, particularly with the opening of a new Hedrick Middle School,” Rogers said. “But there will be a lot of discussion and the opportunity for the families impacted to share their thoughts with us before anything is finalized. We always seek input from a variety of sources before we recommend a final decision to our Board.”