Education
BY COMMUNITY IMPACT STAFF
Liberty Hill ISD adds some Fridays back Liberty Hill ISD is asking students to return to school on four Fridays that were not previously included in this school year’s calendar. In January, the Texas Education Agency denied a sta development waiver that would’ve allowed LHISD to dedicate 2,100 required instructional minutes to professional development for sta . In a nutshell The district announced it will require students to attend school on four more Fridays that were not scheduled in the current academic calendar, including March 6, March 27, May 8 and May 15. The TEA’s updated policy states that four-day- school-week districts or charter schools are not eli- gible to receive the waiver, e ective in the 2025-26 school year and detailed in a 2024-25 TEA handbook released in September 2024. This year, the district adopted a hybrid calendar featuring a mix of ve-day and four-day school
Leander ISD to repurpose Faubion The Leander ISD board of trustees approved P uger Architects as the architec- ture rm to provide services for the repurpos- ing of Faubion Elementary during the Jan. 22 board meeting. The gist The board voted Dec. 17 to close Faubion in 2026-27 due to the campus’ projected low enrollment and LISD’s budget shortfall. The school will be consolidated with Westside Elementary and its campus repurposed. District o cials said they’d consider using the campus for New Hope High School’s expansion, the Leander Extended Opportu- nity Center or the Early College High School. Per district documents, P uger Architects will help establish the new campus use based on identi ed needs and provide full design services necessary to support construction.
LHISD calendar preference survey In November, LHISD surveyed around 5,000 parents and sta on whether they would prefer a traditional ve-day-school-week calendar or an innovative calendar featuring some four-day school weeks.
Innovative calendar Traditional calendar
No preference
Parents
Sta
54.2%
72.5%
SOURCE: LIBERTY HILL ISD COMMUNITY IMPACT
weeks, intended to provide professional develop- ment time on Fridays. LHISD o cials believed the district would still qualify for the waiver, stating that the TEA has not provided a clear de nition of what it considers to be a four-day-school-week calendar. According to the TEA’s handbook, “the waiver minutes are only applicable to sta development provided instead of student instruction during the school year.”
Local private schools approved for ESA program Hundreds of private schools and prekindergar- ten providers have been approved to participate in the state’s $1 billion new education savings account program. Eligible families will receive thousands of dollars to send their children to a private school or homeschool them beginning in 2026-27. Six Leander and Liberty Hill-area schools have been approved to accept ESAs: • Champion Kids Day Out • Fortis Classical Christian Academy • Divine Savior Academy-Santa Rita Ranch • Goddard School • Invictus: An Acton Academy • Sterling Classical School
Divine Savior Academy-Santa Rita Ranch o ers private education for grades pre-K 12.
COURTESY DIVINE SAVIOR ACADEMY SANTA RITA RANCH
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LEANDER LIBERTY HILL EDITION
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