Cedar Park - Leander Edition | January 2023

EDUCATION

OTHER STORIES TO FOLLOW IN 2023

FUTURE FOCUSED

Leander ISD debt obligations moving in right direction, CFO says District ocials are working to address its debt obligations as the district received 88 out of 100 points on the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas for scal year 2021-22. The district lost eight points for its ratio of long-term liability related to total assets as LISD had about $1.6 billion in debt and $1.7 billion in assets. To receive the max score, the ratio has to be 0.6 or less, or the district has to experience 7% enrollment growth. LISD saw its enrollment increase by 5.57% in 2021-22. “The state realizes if you’re a fast- growth district, ... you’re going to have debt while you build infrastructure,” Chief Financial Ocer Peter Pape said. PULLING FROM PUBLIC Demographers expect local enrollment in charter schools to continue to take students from Leander ISD.

LEANDER ISD District ocials, the board of trustees and the Leander ISD Citizens’ Facility Advisory Committee have “some tough decisions” to make in the coming weeks, Superintendent Bruce Gearing said, as the district navigates unbalanced growth and a need for new facilities. The district is preparing to construct Elementary School No. 30—set to open for the 2024-25 school year. Around $63 million has been budgeted for the project. The district has gone through the design phase and is ramping up to begin construction with no groundbreaking date set. Its opening will require LISD to rezone elementary students—particularly those in the northern portion of the district where the school is being built to relieve overcrowd- ing. Before that takes place, LISD leadership is starting the process to review and rezone all secondary schools. “We have this problem of unbalanced growth in the district, so part of that is the secondary rezoning will allow us to use the existing capacity that we have inside of existing facilities more equitably across [the district],” Gearing said. “A lot growth is happening in the north.” Secondary surges Between the fall of 2020 and 2021, LISD increased enroll- ment by 1,425 students. It gained a total of 3,554 students from 2016-21, according to data compiled by Population and Survey Analysts, making it the fastest-growing district in the Austin metro. By 2032, the number of students in LISD is projected to grow from around 42,000 students to 51,083. Student capacity at Danielson is projected to reach 131% by the 2025-26 school year, while Glenn is projected to reach 124% capacity. To provide enrollment relief at the schools and defer the timing of future school construction, zoning changes will shift the population toward the southern part of the district, Gearing said. “The demographer had originally projected that we would need two additional high schools, so High School [No.] 7 and then eventually High School [No.] 8,” Gearing said. “By rezoning and using the existing capacity that we have, we think we would be able to avoid building High School [No.] 8 at all.” LISD’s long-range plan includes the addition of High School No. 7 in the 2028-29 school year and Middle School No. 10 in 2029-30. With the process for rezoning secondary schools approved by the board of trustees Dec. 8, the district is working to col- lect community input between Jan. 23-April 3. A minimum of two community forums will be hosted, and recommen- dations to the long-range planning committee will be made in mid-April. The goal is to announce the new zoning by summer 2023 to allow for a full year before it goes into place for the 2024-25 school year. Preparing for a bond In the meantime, the district’s bond steering committee heard recommendations Jan. 3 from advisory groups on what projects need to be prioritized in the coming years. They include upgrades to school HVAC systems, another ele- mentary school, a new campus for the Skills for Enhancing Lifelong Ful¢llment program and more. The LISD Citizens’ Facility Advisory Committee is expected to make its ¢nal

As Leander ISD faces uneven growth throughout the district with the northern portion continuing to add students as the southern portion loses students, leadership is planning to redistribute students through rezoning and prepare for future facility needs to be funded by an upcoming bond.

10-year high school enrollment change

Enrollment projections for district high schools from October 2022-October 2032 reect the broader trend of more students moving into the northern portion of the district. Rezoning will help redistribute this growth.

School zone map

High school

Student enrollment change by school

183A TOLL

Glenn

-718 students -84 students -911 students -61 students +1,824 students +1,252 students

Rouse

183

Leander

Cedar Park

Vista Ridge

Vandegrift

Advanced planning

The rezoning process will take place throughout the rst half of 2023 before going into eect in 2024-25. Jan. 23-March 10: The district creates, publishes and collects community input on rezoning scenarios March 20-April 3: The district hosts a minimum of two community forums and records feedback April 17-21: Sta presents their recommendation to the long-range

5K 4K 1K 2K 3K 0

SOURCE: LEANDER ISD COMMUNITY IMPACT planning committee May 11 and June 8: The board of trustees discusses and acts

SOURCE: LEANDER ISDCOMMUNITY IMPACT *PROJECTED

Charter, private school growth continues to rise in area The number of students living within Leander ISD who attend a charter school is increasing, according to data from Population and Survey Analysts. In 2018, charter schools pulled 1,059 students from the LISD area. For the 2022-23 school year, 1,923 students were enrolled in charter schools. PASA President Stacey Tepera said ve charter schools are also planning an expansion close to or within the LISD boundaries, which could aect the district’s growth. “Over the next ve years, ... about 4,200 students could be living in Leander ISD and attending these charter schools,” she said. Meanwhile, PASA estimated the number students residing within the district who attend a private school is also increasing. However, this data is gathered through surveys, so it is “not as clear cut,” Tepera said.

recommendations Jan. 26 to the board of trustees, which has until Feb. 17 to decide on a potential bond election in May. Gearing said the committee is analyzing what critical needs the district has that require immediate funding— safety and security issues or emergency items that create a hardship for students, sta£ or the community. In 2021, three bond propositions were put before LISD voters. Proposition A, which failed, would have funded $772.2 million of school construction and renovations. Prop- osition C, proposed to provide $33 million for lighting and sound at the performing arts center, also failed. Proposition B for technology replacement passed, but part of the project required infrastructure within the failed Proposition A. Looking back, Gearing said the funding from the three bond proposals would have likely fallen short of the actual costs of renovations and construction. “Now that we’re aware of what those in¤ation costs look like a little more, whatever we put on the ballot, we’ll make sure that we have enough money built in there to get those projects built,” he said. “So now it’s just a determination of what our community really wants us to do for the children of our community.”

COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM