Education
BY SARAH BRAGER & EMILY LINCKE
Education Edition
2025
Welcome to Community Impact ’s 2025 Education Edition! After a productive legislative session, school districts across the state are looking at how new funding allotments to programs and parents will a ect enrollment. In Klein ISD, district o cials are looking to expand career and technical education programs as enrollment rose 12.8% despite districtwide enrollment actually falling. Klein ISD’s slight enrollment decline could also be further exacerbated by Senate Bill 2, which provides additional funding for parents to enroll their children at private, charter and even online schools. While Klein ISD still saw a 26.2% increase in transfers into the district, the net transfer data shows transfers out of the district are now outpacing student growth. In this edition, we also look at how new cellphone banning policies are being implemented statewide along with new rules which provide teachers greater authority in placing students on in-school suspension for “repetitive disruptive behavior.”
What's inside
See how teachers are gaining more disciplinary authority in schools (Page 13)
Jessica Shorten Editor jshorten@ communityimpact.com
Cellphones banned in all K 12 schools under new law (Page 13)
Klein ISD boosting enrollment in career and technical education programs (Page 14)
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Charter, virtual schools see climbing enrollment in Klein ISD
Students are increasingly transferring out of Klein ISD overall—and public schools across the region—to pursue other education options, accord- ing to Texas Education Agency data. A closer look KISD has seen about a 28% increase in the net number of students leaving the district—students transferring out subtracted from students transfer- ring in—to enroll in charter schools, virtual schools or other districts since fall 2020, according to TEA data. In the last 10 school years, KISD has seen a 122% increase in net transfers out. Many factors go into district enrollment changes, said Stacey Tepera, president of Population and Survey Analysts, which conducts demographic studies for KISD and school districts across Texas. She said one trend has been consistent statewide and nationally—parents are taking advantage of the rising options for their child’s education.
1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000
Klein ISD student transfers
-2,231
Transfers out Transfers in Net transfers
-2,016
-1,431
-1,004
0 500
SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY COMMUNITY IMPACT
Even though KISD has seen a net loss in students, more students are transferring in from other districts—a 26.2% increase from 2020-25. “Our deep commitment to the success of every student combined with our longstanding tradition of excellence in academics, the arts and athletics is the reason so many parents are choosing KISD for their children,” Superintendent Jenny McGown said via an Aug. 6 email statement.
What else? Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 2 into law in May, allowing eligible families to access public dollars for private school tuition. Starting in the 2026-27 school year, families can receive about $10,000 per child to enroll in private schools. Par- ents who homeschool their children can receive up to $2,000 each year. It’s unclear as of press time exactly how SB 2 will impact enrollment in KISD.
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SPRING KLEIN EDITION
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