Georgetown Edition | March 2024

From the cover

Budgets tighten for ISDs as school options expand

By the numbers

The overview

District transfers Out-of-district transfers have increased by more than 70% over the last 10 years in Georgetown ISD.

With recent growth in the area population, enrollment for GISD is projected to increase by 4% in the upcoming school year. However, for much of the past decade, enrollment stayed below 12,000 students, exceeding 13,000 in the 2022-23 school year. From the 2012-13 to 2022-23 school years, the number of students leaving for charter schools and other independent school districts grew by 73%, TEA data shows. GISD saw the number of students leaving the district grow from 892 in the 2012-13 school year to 1,546 in the 2022-23 school year, while enrollment grew by about 3,000 students over the past 10 years. Many of these students attend area charter schools, such as Gateway College Preparatory School and Meridian World School, TEA data shows. Breaking it down About two-thirds of the school-age children living within Georgetown ISD's boundaries are enrolled in the district.

Community Impact analyzed data from the Texas Education Agency and GISD showing students transferring out of the district are overwhelmingly choosing charter schools. In the last decade, four charter schools opened in the suburbs north of Austin. Additionally, a Harmony Public Schools campus is under construction near Georgetown. These join the previously established Meridian World School and Gateway College Preparatory School. TEA transfer data shows 10% of students enrolled in Georgetown ISD in the 2022-23 school year left the district for charter schools or a dierent district. This data also shows over 500 of those students are now enrolled at Gateway College Preparatory Academy. New private schools and homeschooling groups have been formed in recent years to meet the needs of parents and students looking for something public school does not oer. U.S. Census Bureau data shows 19,675 school- aged children live within Georgetown ISD’s boundaries. The district’s enrollment for the 2022-2023 school year was 13,155, which means the district captured about 66% of possible students in the area. Though no agency tracks students who go to private schools or homeschool, data shows about 5,000 area children are choosing these options. Dana Martin, whose children previously attended Georgetown ISD schools, chose to enroll them at Goodwater Montessori, where she says her older son is thriving. “How can you be testing so low, but so bored and not being challenged?” Martin said of her child’s experience in public school. “He wasn’t getting his needs met at all either.”

Transfers in

Transfers out

1,546

1,000 1,500 2,000

131

0 500

Students transferring from GISD into charter schools and other school districts

Charter schools

School districts

311

2022-23 1,181

Top schools GISD students left for in 202223

Gateway College Preparatory School Goodwater Montessori School Meridian World School

544

202

193

101

Round Rock ISD

Georgetown ISD enrollment Census total school-age population (5-19)

Texas Empowerment Academy Priority Charter Schools

19,675

20K

Number of students

13,155

15K

Student withdrawals to private schools and homeschool Withdrawals are self-reported and may not represent the total number of students leaving for home or private school.

10K

Homeschool

Private schools

2022-23

220

SOURCES: GEORGETOWN ISD, TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU COMMUNITY IMPACT

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