Major factors impacting our enrollment include lower birth rates, decisions to homeschool, charter schools, and private schools. With all of the work LISD has done to promote our district, our demographers recently reported to the district that LISD captures 85% of students within our boundaries, while this is a very strong rate that still means there are 15% of students choosing another educational option.

At the state legislature level, when they made a decision- like the creation of charter schools many years ago that has an impact. We urge all of our families to engage with their elected officials as any decisions the legislature makes that could reduce public school enrollment reduce funding since school districts are funded per student in attendance.

Additionally, the type of housing being developed in our cities impacts our enrollment. These decisions are not made by the school district, but rather by city councils. As mentioned in a previous FAQ, demographers project that much of the high density and/or multi-family development, and new single family home development in LISD’s boundaries is priced beyond the reach of most families with school-aged children.  New home growth that is at more affordable prices for young families in Denton County is not within the LISD footprint.

LISD has reduced costs at the central office level and over the last several years, more than 60 positions at the district level have been eliminated, both to cut the budget and in response to declining enrollment. The district utilizes social media along with very limited print marketing campaigns targeting families who reside in neighboring districts. The district also partners with local businesses to create mutually beneficial agreements that can include advertising opportunities for LISD at no cost to the district. Public school budget allocations do not allow for multi-channel marketing and advertising campaigns. Rather, LISD has concentrated its budget and resources on campuses and campus staffing.

In the event a campus is retired, the district evaluates options for repurposing or selling any facilities. The Board of Trustees will always consider the potential impact on the community, including neighboring properties.

Although Denton County is one of the fastest growing areas in the country, LISD is not going to see strong growth as there simply is not enough vacant land available for considerable new housing. It is not that they are NOT coming to LISD, it is just a matter of land availability. Demographers project that much of the high density and/or multi-family development, and new single family home development is priced beyond the reach of most families with school-aged children. New home growth that is at more affordable prices for young families in Denton County is not within the LISD footprint.

LISD has used Zonda Education for our demographer since 2013, formerly known as Templeton Demographics. Rocky Gardiner has been our representative since we started with Templeton in 2013. Zonda Education serves more than 120 school districts annually by providing demographic studies that include enrollment projections, quarterly housing reports, attendance zone planning, facility planning, build out studies, and geographic information system (GIS) mapping.

Demographic reports are provided to the Board and district leaders four times a year. Additional work requests are submitted as projects arise regarding attendance zones and boundaries.

Zonda forecasts are typically slightly higher than what actual enrollments come in at. In 2020, they forecasted that in 2024-25 our student enrollment would be 49,155. They revised the 2024-25 forecast each year and, with each forecast, got increasingly closer to what our enrollment is today, but still slightly above. For example, in 2023 their forecast of 2024-25 was revised from the 2020 forecast to 47,792, and our current enrollment is 47,754. If they are forecasting 45,000 for enrollment by 2033, then it is very likely our actual enrollment will be slightly below that based on historical trends.

A larger school enrollment does not mean that class sizes will be larger. In fact, numerous buildings in LISD are operating with 500+ students. The majority of LISD’s elementary classes meet the state mandated ratio of 22:1 (kindergarten through fourth grade). Public school districts are required to file a waiver with the state for classes in K-4 over the 22:1 ratio. Over the last ten years, LISD has reduced the number of elementary classes on a waiver from 62 to 35 for the 24-25 school year. 

Elementary schools with enrollments between 540-800 qualify for additional specials teachers and counselors. For example, an elementary school of this size could have a STEM special as part of their specials rotation, or may have additional PE teachers. Elementary schools that previously had additional specials rotations based on their enrollment, and have now dropped below the 540-800 range, have been reduced to Art, Music, and PE. These scenarios make the student experience vary from school to school as enrollments have changed. 

Yes, if your student was affected by the retirements and closure decisions, they will remain in the feeder pattern for the grandfathered school.  If you wish to attend a different middle school, please cancel your transfer at the time of middle school enrollment. 

Families impacted by boundary adjustments and/or campus retirements will be able to request a transfer during the spring transfer window. The district will make every effort to ensure families impacted by potential changes receive their requested transfer.

Board policy (FDB local) states in reference to in-district transfers related to boundary changes, “When the Board approves changes to District attendance zone boundaries, students shall attend the schools specified; however, a student attending an elementary school and entering grades 4 or 5, or attending a middle school and entering grade 8, at the time of zone boundary changes shall be given the choice of attending the school to which he or she has been newly zoned or requesting a transfer to complete grade 5 or grade 8, respectively, at the original school. Siblings of a student wishing to stay at his or her original school, rather than move due to changes in attendance zone boundaries, shall be allowed to remain at the original school. If a student choosing to stay at the school has a sibling entering kindergarten, the sibling shall be guaranteed transfer to the school.”

FDB Local also states, “A student who wishes to attend a school other than as assigned for his or her attendance zone shall file an application for transfer with the Superintendent, in accordance with administrative procedures. Completed and signed applications for a transfer shall only be considered during the designated transfer period.”

FDB Local also states space availability at the requested campus will be a factor in determining approval or denial of a request. 

Families impacted by potential facility retirements or boundary adjustments as a result of the Community Efficiency Committee (CEC) assessment will have additional opportunities to request transfers once final boundary determinations have been made.

There has been a decrease of 7.9% in the number of maintenance workers to support LISD facilities. This has resulted in the square footage per maintenance worker to be 142,709 square feet. While the amount of employees is decreasing, the amount of facilities square footage they are responsible for maintaining has not decreased.

It is important to remember that major maintenance and repair projects are completed using bond funds, which are approved only by voters and cannot be used for daily operational expenses. At the time the repairs were approved and started, the district did not know which campuses would be identified to increase efficiency as part of the efficiency assessment framework. The district operated under the assumption that the repairs were necessary for the continued operation of the school.

The continuation of declining enrollment, coupled with the lack of action by lawmakers to increase public school funding to account for inflation has created a situation in which LISD must take action to increase efficiency for the financial health of the district.

In an instance where the district would retire a facility, completing the repairs also preserves the condition of the property, increasing its value or making it easier to sell or repurpose the building in the future. For example, in 2021 LISD retired Stewart’s Creek Elementary. The maintenance and upkeep for the facility was important to maintain the overall value of the facility. 

In the event a facility is retired, while the building may not be used as a school anymore, it could be repurposed for other community or educational uses. Keeping the facility in good repair still serves the community's interests.

Currently, the property is under deed restriction with the United States of America Department of Education.  This property is being utilized via provisions of a public benefit arrangement and must be used for educational purposes outlined in the application to the US Department of Education.

The FY 25 budget includes over $17M in local revenue that is raised through programs and fees. Similar to other districts, like Frisco ISD, Lewisville ISD raises revenue through the a variety of options, although this is not an exhaustive list:

• External off campus PE
• Tuition based PreK program
• Virtual Learning Academy Courses
• Facility Rentals
• Athletic Event Gate Revenue
• Interest Earnings

Additionally, LISD enrolled more than 1,100 out of district transfer students to help increase enrollment.

The Texas Education Agency recommends that school districts maintain a fund balance of at least three months of operating expenditures for cash flow needs.  This aligns with the district’s fund balance target per board policy CE (Local).  The majority of the district’s revenue is from property tax collections which are mostly received in December and January. Thus the district needs a healthy fund balance to cover operating expenditures including payroll from September through November.  The district’s adopted expenditure budget for FY25 was $561M. In order to maintain a fund balance of at least three months of operating expenditures, the district would need a fund balance of $140M.

The debt service fund balance is only able to be used to repay bond debt (I&S funds) - it cannot be used for daily operations of the school district. 

The general fund balance has decreased over the last several years as pay raises have been provided to compete for and retain staff. 

LISD’s general fund balance over the last several years is as follows:

• 2019-20 - $181,154,061
• 2020-21 - $170,611,054 (staff pay raises cost $11.3M)
• 2021-22 - $150,011,120 (staff pay raises cost $16.2M)
• 2022-23 - $132,599,936 (staff pay raises cost $14.6M)

Additionally, pay raises for the 2023-24 school year cost the district $16.4M.

The Lewisville ISD Administrative Center (LISDAC) is fully utilized. LISD has reduced costs at the central office level, including consolidating administrative buildings from three separate facilities to one. Over the last several years, more than 60 positions at the district level have been eliminated, both to cut the budget and in response to declining enrollment.  Commensurate with our decline in enrollment over the last several years we have decreased more than 200 positions across LISD, right sizing our staffing to our enrollment decrease.

There is not a type of bond that is available for the purpose asked in this question. The I&S budget (yellow bucket of funds) supports capital improvements and major maintenance projects for public school districts. These funds cannot be used for any daily operational costs, which include staff salaries, utilities, transportation maintenance and fuel, etc.

As referenced in the question about budget reductions, the district made many significant changes during the 23-24 school year to reduce costs, shrinking our deficit from $14M to $4.5M. However, this deficit does not include a raise for staff. As we’ve noted in several FAQs, staff pay is critical in retaining the employees who make LISD a special place to live and go to school. If we are unable to continue to give our staff a raise over the next several years, it is likely we will begin to lose employees because of competitive pay in our market. As we shared in a previous FAQ, another Long Range Plan goal is maintain a low turnover rate, and competitive pay for staff is crucial in retention.

Significantly! The revenue that a district earns with 53,000 students is very different from a revenue with 47,000. Remember - districts are not even allocated funds based on enrollment. Texas is one of only six states that allocate funds based on attendance. Therefore, LISD is allocated funds based on about a 94% attendance rate which would equate to approximately 44,180 students, yet we have to staff the district and operate for 47,000. Ultimately, student count drives revenue and when your student enrollment goes down your revenue goes down.  

This is further complicated by a lack of increase to the Basic Allotment, because the less the state formula says you need to operate per student when property taxes are increasing means the more that LISD will pay back to the state of Texas in recapture. If you think this system does not make sense, you would be right! If you are wondering what you can do to impact how public schools are funded between enrollment and the basic allotment we urge you to engage with your state officials. LISD has regularly advocated over the last several years for changes to the state funding system and we need your help - communicate with your elected officials about how the decisions they make impact you locally.

In a time of declining student enrollment and the need to be competitive for recruiting and retaining staff, the district is working to reduce operational costs and generate revenue.  LISD wants to retain the high quality staff that our families have expressed all throughout this process that they appreciate so very much.  

Neighboring districts gave raises to their staff this past year which contributed to their much larger deficits than what LISD currently has. One of our Long Range Plan goals is to remain within the top 25% of our market group in having a low turnover rate. Providing competitive pay to staff is a key aspect to retaining staff in LISD versus neighboring districts. A few examples of local districts who provided a pay increase for the 2024-25 school year include: 

• Plano ISD gave a 3% raise to staff

• Richardson ISD gave anywhere from a 3%-30% raise

• Frisco ISD gave a 3% raise.   

• Coppell ISD gave a 3% raise

• Northwest ISD gave a 3% raise

Let’s look at a scenario in which LISD gives a 3% raise over a three-year period as an example. For LISD to give a 3% raise it costs approximately $12M, which carries forward to the following year. To sustain that 3% raise the following year, you would carry forward the $12M deficit and add it to an additional $12M, making the total deficit the following year $24M. This pattern continues for the third year, making the total deficit $36M at the end of our three-year scenario.  This scenario does not include an additional raise year after year either. If we were to give 3% raises two years in a row, then over a three-year period the district would need $72M. 

Since LISD did not provide a pay raise to staff this school year the current deficit is at $4.5M. If LISD had given a 3% raise to staff for the 2024-25 school year the deficit would have been $16.5M. Without a raise this year, many of our staff saw a decrease to their pay as a result of higher insurance costs.

Over the 23-24 school year, LISD absorbed more than 100 open positions, reduced central office budgets, discontinued the annual employee awards banquet, and made changes to the middle school schedule. These changes reduced LISD’s budget deficit from $14M to $4.5M. Also effective for the 24-25 school year, LISD has reduced the amount of subs that will be available each day, saving the district approximately $2.5 million annually. Throughout last school year, Superintendent Lori Rapp has shared several budget updates in her monthly LISD RAPPort newsletter. The district has also created a budget reduction website with more information.

The process established was to examine the use of facilities in light of declining enrollment.  Therefore the criteria was based on efficiency of the campus. 

With a 94% parent approval rating across LISD, parents are overall supportive of the LISD campus their children attend.  There is not a campus that LISD could identify for retirement that any families would want to see retired - our LISD families overall are happy with the campus their child attends.

It is important to remember that the CEC did not provide a ranking of campuses, nor did they determine which campuses should be retired. The CEC provided a comprehensive assessment of several data points for all campuses in the district, and shared their assessment with district leaders and the Board to review further for ways to increase efficiency across the district. Every feeder pattern in LISD is experiencing enrollment decline that must be examined by feeder by assessing campus capacity at neighboring schools. One of the guiding principles of the CEC was to maintain the integrity of each of LISD’s five feeder patterns. For example, if the district were to close several schools in one feeder pattern, that would likely have an impact on the overall feeder pattern boundaries across the district which could change middle school and even high school boundaries.

At this time the middle schools that were scoring low on the efficiency assessment were not recommended for retirement, but to continue to monitor enrollment.   Student enrollment trends show that it is more likely that students return to LISD at either middle or high school grades, so the district will reassess efficiency in the next couple of years to monitor this enrollment trend.

The Board hopes to have determinations in place by December, and any changes to boundary adjustments or facility retirements will be effective the 2025-26 school year.

It is important to note that the key indicators are not a scale or rating. The committee identified the key indicators for each and every campus in LISD, then assessed how campuses within a feeder pattern could be adjusted to increase efficiency across the whole district. The CEC reviewed the data within the context of the feeder patterns, rather than evaluating the campus in isolation. For example, a campus that has 4 out of 4 key indicators could have a student  enrollment that is nearing its building capacity, therefore could benefit from boundary adjustments to allow for an increase in efficiency across several campuses within the feeder pattern or have a neighboring school that is larger and able to hold more students. 

The CEC spent month’s reviewing data related to forecasted enrollment, operating costs, and facilities assessments. I encourage you to visit LISD.net/CEC to get more information about the process, the data documentation they used, and the criteria used in the efficiency framework. Being on the list is NOT a reflection of school quality or performance, staff dedication or effectiveness, nor community value or importance. The review of data is based on objective factors including enrollment forecasts, operating costs, facility conditions, and kindergarten enrollment trends.

In the late ‘90’s and early ‘00’s, LISD experienced rapid growth, peaking in 2017 at an enrollment of 53,000 students. The district was expanded to support this capacity, and enrollment is projected to stabilize at around 45,000 thousand students over the next ten years. Lower birth rates plus increasing home prices, which average more than $450,000 in LISD, are just a few factors impacting student enrollment in LISD. As a result, we now have more facility space than students and must identify ways to increase our efficiency.  School districts do not have the flexibility to wait for neighborhoods to completely get reduced to almost no kids attending a school, because of the state of public education funding in Texas. Since the Basic Allotment has not been increased since 2019 and costs are exponentially growing for school districts, school districts are being forced to examine every way possible to reduce costs.  

The school district currently operates about 90 hazardous bus route locations based on boundaries that would cause students within two miles to cross major streets. The minimum requirement for an area to be considered hazardous is where no walkway is provided, and students must walk along or cross a freeway or expressway, an underpass, an overpass or a bridge, an uncontrolled major traffic artery, an industrial or commercial area, or another comparable condition.

For any schools that are determined to be retired the district would review whether hazardous bus routes would need to be added for students who reside within two miles of their newly zoned campus. Current hazardous routes can be found HERE. More information about LISD transportation services can be found HERE.

No. The efficiency assessment criteria and the projected utilization of neighboring schools within each feeder pattern were considerations.

For any schools that are determined to be retired the district would engage in conversations with the appropriate city staff regarding crosswalks and crossing guards.

The process established was to examine the use of facilities in light of declining enrollment.  Therefore the criteria was based on efficiency of the campus. 

With a 94% parent approval rating across LISD, parents are overall supportive of the LISD campus their children attend.  There is not a campus that LISD could identify for retirement that any families would want to see retired - our LISD families are overall happy with the campus their child attends.

The LISD Council of PTA’s can help PTA’s of retired schools regarding the guidance from Texas PTA on this question.

Now that the Board has heard the district’s recommendations for facility retirements and boundary adjustments, district leaders will spend time creating proposals for each scenario. It is possible campuses that are near schools on either list will be impacted by boundary adjustments. For example, a school may receive additional students from a nearby campus that is on the retirement and/or boundary list. The proposals will be brought forth to the Board, staff and the community at community feedback meetings before any decisions are made. Any campus impacted by proposed changes will be invited to participate in the listening tour.

All staff maintain positions within LISD.

In the case of Stewarts Creek Elementary it was sold to the City of The Colony.  Some options for buildings that are retired would be repurposing of the building, leasing the building, selling the land and/or building. 

No, any adjustments made to boundaries will be done so to preserve the integrity of current high school feeder patterns.

A listening tour will be held for families and staff to attend where proposals would be shared about where students would attend so that feedback could be gathered about the proposed changes directly from the staff and families impacted. Getting this feedback from impacted communities is a critical part of the process before the Board makes any final decisions in December. 

Yes. Hedrick Elementary in 2019 and Stewarts Creek Elementary in 2021. 

LISD passed more than $50M in raises for staff between 2019 and 2022, anticipating that the Legislature in either 2021 and/or 2023 would adjust the Basic Allotment, similar to the increase they made in 2019. The Legislature did not do anything about the Basic Allotment in either of those sessions and proceeded to pass a very costly mandate to have armed security personnel on all campuses.  

For LISD, the Basic Allotment would need to increase by $100 for the district to eliminate our deficit.  The district would need an increase of almost $300 to eliminate our deficit and provide staff a 2% raise.

We are hopeful that the legislature will do what is necessary to keep more of our local tax dollars in our community and give our public schools the access to the resources that are needed to meet student needs and recruit and retain high quality staff.  Separate from the school finance system, it is important to recognize that the district also has a responsibility to conduct comprehensive facility planning which includes evaluating facilities usage in each feeder pattern.

In addition to educating our community and all of the monthly messages that Dr. Rapp sends out to families, you can find all of the history for the last 5 legislative sessions plus all of Dr. Rapp’s communication with elected officials on the News for Legislators Page on our district website https://www.lisd.net/Page/203

Public schools are funded based on student attendance. So if a system is created that takes students away from public schools, then yes, vouchers would impact public schools. The lower your enrollment, the less funds you have. The legislature passed a bill almost 30 years ago establishing charter schools, which is impacting your local schools. The more systems the Legislature creates, the more the limited* number of students is divided up, thus lowering the overall enrollment to participate in public schools. 

*Compounding this issue is the fact that we are experiencing lower birth rates, and price points of homes are not yielding families with young children.

All current and waitlist ESD families who pre-register at their newly zoned campus by the deadline will be accepted into ESD for the 2025-26 school year. Current and waitlist families who pre-register by the deadline and choose to “open transfer” to another campus are not guaranteed in the ESD program. Their registrations will be accepted by date and time stamp based on program availability. After pre-registration and before employee and open registration, ESD will re-evaluate the program enrollment caps at the receiving campuses to determine if additional students can be accommodated.

There will not be any changes. Students who receive special education services for counseling and speech will receive the same services at any of our LISD schools.

In the event a campus is retired, the staff will have the opportunity to follow their students to their newly zoned campus. Classroom/instructional items will be moved to new campus classrooms and follow the students. LISD’s Special Education department will work closely with the units to ensure the same level of services are provided. As enrollment has declined, some classroom spaces that once housed grade level classes have been utilized in other ways that were not part of the original design of the school building and may not be available at the newly zoned campus.

In the event campuses are retired in LISD, the teachers and support staff will have the opportunity to follow their students to their newly zoned campus. Families will also have the opportunity to visit their newly zoned campus and class before the school year begins.