Education
BY JONATHAN PERRIELLO
5 Lewisville ISD schools to close ahead of 2025-26 school year
The Lewisville ISD board of trustees voted to close five elementary schools and approved various boundary adjustments starting in the 2025-26 school year. The details The board unanimously voted to close B.B. Owen, Creekside, Garden Ridge and Highland Village elementary schools, and Polser Elementary STEM Academy at a Dec. 9 meeting. The decision brought a close to discussions that took place from October through December, and is poised to save the district around $2.3 million, or about $460,000 per campus, according to district documents. The boundary adjustments and rezoning for the closed campuses will be as follows, according to the district’s plan: • B.B. Owen Elementary’s 273 students will be rezoned to Ethridge, Camey, Morningside and Peters Colony elementary schools. • Creekside Elementary’s closure will result in boundary adjustments for Lewisville, Lakeland and Degan Elementary schools, which will absorb Creekside’s 373 students . • Garden Ridge Elementary’s closure will impact Donald Elementary STEM Academy and Forest Vista Elementary, which will absorb the cam- pus’s 323 students . • The 378 students at Highland Village Elemen- tary will be rezoned to McAuliffe Elementary and Heritage Elementary. • The 504 students attending Polser Elementary STEM Academy will combine with Hebron Valley Elementary, which will become the new STEM academy.
Lewisville ISD adopted general fund budgets Lewisville ISD's expenses surpass its expected revenue for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
Revenue
Expenses
$600M
$500M
$400M
$300M
$200M
$100M
$0
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
2024-25
Fiscal year
SOURCE: LEWISVILLE ISD/COMMUNITY IMPACT
thought for keeping our schools open, which we believed were really compelling,” Natt said. “In the end, [the board] was not transparent enough, we did all this work and its devastating for us and our students.” Going forward The district will begin the process of transfer- ring students and staff over the next year, with changes set to take effect in the 2025-26 school year. With the closure of Polser, the district will begin the STEM Academy certification process for Hebron Valley Elementary beginning next year, officials said.
Transfer students currently attending affected schools will be allotted a space at the school they were originally zoned for, but the district will consider further transfer requests, officials said. The board adopted a $4.51 million budget shortfall for the fiscal year 2024-25. Enrollment decline was one factor that precipitated discus- sions on school closures and prompted the board to forgo staff raises for the FY 2024-25 school. What they’re saying Garden Ridge Elementary parent Katy Natt said she would have liked to see more transparency in the decision to close schools. “Parents of the community have poured their heart and soul into giving the board food for
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LEWISVILLE - COPPELL EDITION
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