Lewisville, Coppell ISDs face funding issues From the cover
Effects on Coppell ISD
Two-minute impact
2025-26 school year and is expected to save around $2.1 million. “These are very tough decisions, but we are at a point where we have got to move forward and now is the time to take action,” Hunt said. With the consolidation of Pinkerton Elemen- tary, students there will attend Wilson and Austin elementary schools. The district will adjust Denton Creek Elementary attendance zones to Town Center, Cottonwood Creek and Lakeside elementary schools based on enroll- ment, according to district documents. Buildings considered for consolidation were rated on capacity, age and condition; cost to run and maintain; and proximity to neighborhoods. Based on a facilities evaluation tool created in June, Pinkerton scored the lowest of all facilities in the district in the age and condition category. District staff said the consolidations would not affect the state-mandated elementary class student-to-teacher ratios of 22:1.
In addition to inadequate state funding, Texas school districts are facing mandated initiatives, like employing school resource officers, for which the state funds less than half of the over $1.3 million cost in CISD. In June, CISD also approved $3.3 million for staff raises despite its budget shortfall. The district also anticipates elementary enrollment decline by 550-660 students in the next three to four years, according to CISD Chief Financial Officer Diana Sircar. This is nearly 5% of the total enrollment and would lead to a loss of around $4.4 million in that time, Sircar added. Throughout 2024, CISD reduced positions through attrition and cut district-level expenses, Superintendent Brad Hunt said. Administration also expanded open enrollment and increased facility rental fees. Despite this, the board voted 4-3 to close Pinkerton Elementary, the oldest school in the district. The change will take effect for the
Since state funding plateaued in 2019, CISD and LISD have experienced around 22% in ation, exacerbating the e ects year over year. Statewide school funding would need to increase by around $1,400 per student to provide CISD and LISD the same buying power they had in 2019, according to documents from both districts. Additionally, underfunded state mandates and enrollment decline have forced CISD to adopt a $7.5 million shortfall budget in scal year 2024-25, per district documents. Similarly, the LISD board in August approved the FY 2024-25 general fund budget, which included a $4.5 million shortfall. “There is no doubt that in 21 years in the central o ce that this is one of the hardest budgets I have ever been a part of working on,” Rapp said at the August meeting.
Cost per student
Coppell ISD Lewisville ISD
State funding allotment: $6,160
Coppell ISD total enrollment decline
Elementary enrollment decreased by 219 students from the 2023-24 to 2024-25 school year. Total enrollment is expected to decline by 900 by 2029.
$12K $10K
15,000
12,000
$8K $6K $4K $2K $0
9,000
6,000
3,000
2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24
School year
0
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
2024-25
2025-26
2026-27
2022-23
2023-24
2027-28
2028-29
School year
SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
SOURCE: COPPELL ISD/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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