Education
BY MICHAEL CROUCHLEY
Education edition
2024
Readers, welcome to your annual CI Education Edition! This guide features the latest updates and resources from local public schools in your community. All of the stories were written by our team of local journalists, and all of the advertisements are from nearby businesses who support our mission to provide free, useful news—show them your gratitude by supporting them. Inside this year’s education guide, readers can find the continuation of our front page story on Plano ISD’s upcoming Career and Technical Education Center, which starts construction this year and will provide a variety of new opportunities for local high school students. That project is funded by district’s 2020 bond, and another large Plano ISD bond project is featured with an update on the Robbie & Lynore Robinson Fine Arts Center. The Fine Arts Center has now been open to the community for a year after a lawsuit delayed its opening. Our section also features updates on Plano ISD’s reduced tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year, and updates on changes to school zones and proposed changes to the district’s hazardous roadways plan—both of which will aim to make the commute to school safer for Plano kids.
What's inside
Plano ISD trustees approve fine arts center lawsuit settlement agreement (Page 13)
Tracy Ruckel General Manager truckel@ communityimpact.com
Plano ISD approves reduced tax rate for 2024-25. (Page 14)
Nonprofit provides workforce training for autistic adults (Page 19)
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Plano ISD grows programs to serve increasing multilingual population
As Plano ISD sees continued growth in multi- lingual populations, the district is continuing to expand its bilingual education program. The one-way dual language program is cur- rently offered at 15 elementary campuses, and the 2024-25 school year is the first year that program extends to sixth grade, with a pilot program at two middle school campuses. The expansion will help serve Plano ISD’s multilingual students, a population Talle Gomez, PISD executive director of bilingual services, said has “the highest enrollment we’ve seen at Plano ISD.” “We talk a lot about the district’s declining enrollment, but this is not an area where we are seeing declining enrollment,” she said. “Over the last several years, we have just steadily increased the number of emergent bilinguals in Plano ISD.” What’s next? Gomez said that the “biggest barrier” for the
Emerging bilingual students in PISD Students in bilingual program Students in ESL programs
Grades served
Program
Goal
Attain fluency in English and student's native language. Transfer concepts and skills to English.
2,570 2,471
6,709 6,779
2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24
Bilingual program
1-6
2,894 3,065
7,726
ESL program
8,514
Attain fluency in English.
K-12
3,426
8,905
Elementary growth
program is finding bilingual certified teachers. “We’ve created some of our own programs, just this last school year, to really have more candi- dates available,” she said. Gomez said the district is aiming to offer the program at all grade levels. “We are moving in that direction,” she said. “We will have continued committee work moving forward on what that will look like through secondary and up towards graduation.”
2018-19 school year
2023-24 school year 2,126 2,192
East Cluster Central Cluster West Cluster
1,628
2,271
1,413
2,537
SOURCE: PLANO ISD/COMMUNITY IMPACT
12
COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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