RISD Administration Building
Maybe you can’t fight City Hall, but parents at several Lake Highlands elementary schools have been working to make their voices heard at the Richardson ISD Administration Building, and it seems their efforts have finally worked. At last night’s RISD Board Study Session, district officials recommended shuffling the deck of 2016 bond money to shift $21.5 million from the construction of multipurpose practice facilities and $6.1 million from the redesign of libraries for a mix of solutions – including construction – to make way for the waves of new students drawn to RISD elementary schools, particularly in Lake Highlands.
The recommendations, presented by RISD VP of Finance Tony Harkleroad, include: (1) relocating a small portion of Skyview attendance area to Thurgood Marshall Elementary, (2) adding classrooms at Aikin, Stults Road and White Rock, (3) adding up to 12 classrooms to Northlake for a pre-K and K center, and (4) pursuing land to build a new elementary school in Lake Highlands. The changes in bond allocation would not affect the total – $417 million – or the tax rate increase – 8 cents – which represents about $200 on the average RISD home.
You can read the staff considerations and recommendations here.
The evening began with confirmation from Bob Templeton of Templeton Demographics that enrollment growth, particularly in Kindergarten and first grade, was the figment of no one’s imagination.
“Homes are moving very fast,” said Templeton, explaining the demand for houses in Lake Highlands and many areas of Richardson. “It’s not uncommon to sell a house without a listing.”
Unemployment is on the decline – 4% in DFW and just 3.6% in Richardson – and the average price of homes in Richardson has gone up 14% to more than $243,000 since last year. The average home is on the market 25 days, down 22%, and there’s just a one month supply of homes currently for sale (down 7%).
You can read Templeton’s full demographic report here.
Templeton predicts enrollment of 955 at White Rock next year, exceeding capacity of 912. He sees 797 at Aikin, where capacity is 818 and current enrollment is 753. He thinks Wallace will have 871, near capacity of 912 and more than current 852. Not all campuses are this full, but several are, and growth will continue.
“The bulk of the growing population in Dallas is going north to places like McKinney, Allen and Frisco,” said Templeton, “while places like Plano are declining. In Plano, the largest grades are in high school. RISD’s largest grades are K and 1st.”
Student mobility, on the other hand, was higher than it should be, particularly within apartment communities. Of our 39,000 students, 7,400 left and 7,500 arrived as newcomers so far this year. Trustees discussed the effects of this upheaval on students in the classroom.
All four high schools will still receive an all-masonry multi-purpose practice facility and the library renovations to every school will still be first-class, even with the 25% reduction in funding to those areas, Harkleroad said.
Moving forward, trustees aren’t bound by the recommendations of RISD staff and they have other options they could consider. Portable classrooms, additional boundary changes, magnet school options and more are within their powers of implementation. They are likely to consider and discuss them all at their next board meeting Monday, January 11 at 6 p.m. at the RISD Administration Building on Greenville Avenue. The bond package will be finalized by February and go to voters in May.
