Education
BY PATRICIA ORTIZ
Keller ISD board announces criteria for campus mergers
consolidation will “right size” the district and eventually help determine schools that will close as district enrollment continues to decline. “We can’t afford to operate 40 different campuses with declining enrollment and the loss of fund- ing associated with that,” he said. The 2021-22 school year was the last year the district saw growth in enrollment, according to data from Zonda Demographics. The district has seen about a 12.5% decrease in enrollment from 2021- 25, and enrollment is expected to continue to decrease. Deputy Superintendent John Allison said district enrollment is declining because of the limited space for residential development in Keller, and school funding is impacted by student enrollment. “If we have 94% of our students in attendance, we’re only getting 94% of the dollars that were set aside [for the district by the state],” he said. “There’s not a district in the state of Texas or the country that has 100% attendance all the time.” Looking ahead The two committees will look at several proposals based on the guidelines at a meeting April 2.
Keller ISD Superintendent Cory Wilson announced the criteria for the district’s campus consol- idation plan at a regular board meeting Feb. 25. What’s happening? Wilson said the Long Range Planning and Citizens Bond Advisory committees finalized guidelines for the district Feb. 24. “We have to look at how much disruption do we truly want to do while accomplishing our overall goal of realizing savings and becoming more efficient in the operations of the schools,” he said. Guidelines for KISD’s campus consolidation plan include: • Districtwide grade alignment and configuration • Campus occupancy and utilization rates • Conditions of district facilities • Cost of bringing facilities to compliance • Transportation • Limiting the amount of staff and student disruptions The background The Long Range Planning and Citizens Bond Advisory commit- tees have been meeting since the first joint meeting Jan. 14. At the first meeting, Wilson said campus
Award-winning floor plans in 6 communities near you. Built with Quality . Rooted in Your Community .
380
35W
81
Pecan Square
Wildflower Ranch
35E
81
114
AFW
Wellington
DFW
183
360
Fort Worth
Walsh
30
20
Keller ISD enrollment history 50K
20
Tavolo Park
-12.55%
287
360
40K
67
35W
34,813
34,078
33,250
30K
32,042
30,443
Bridgewater
20K
10K
0
2025-26
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24 School year
2024-25
SOURCE: ZONDA DEMOGRAPHICS/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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KELLER - ROANOKE - NORTHEAST FORT WORTH EDITION
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